Strongly connected with the construction industry, home automation (HA) in Europe
might be under the economical weather. However, EU and local regulations and
standards on household energy efficiency might offer some silver linings. APAC, on
the other hand, require extra attention and local resources on legislation, cultural
values, and after-sales service maintenance to better meet local needs.
European HA Market
The European market for HA has strong links with the construction industry. According to Frost & Sullivan, HA systems are beginning to be installed as standard in new apartment developments. While the eurozone crisis triggered volatility in the housing and construction markets, the relatively less steep declines in residential renovations, provides a ray of hope for the HA products market.
A crucial catalyst for HA growth in Europe could be the increased awareness of the need to conserve energy. Connected home technologies such as smart meters and smart grid have received government backing. In Europe, there are over 20 government part-funded smart grid projects. According to Pike Research, smart meter deployment is predicted to reach US$238 million by 2020. On the other hand, regulations that provide energy certification for homes and the European standard EN15232, which determines a certain degree of energy efficiency for building automation systems, have influenced the need. Under the EN15232 criteria, homeowners can know in the planning phase how much energy could be saved under each of the different system automation levels. Their efficiency classes are defined by how they correspond to the level of automation installed: Class A (high efficiency), Class B (advanced automation), Class C (standard automation), and Class D (no automation).
U.K. & Italy
Less than 0.1 percent of UK homes currently have a HA system installed, according to AMA Research. Although small, the penetration of HA in the U.K. is growing for both new and existing housing stock. Declining prices and the increasing availability are crucial factors to accelerate market demand for HA systems. AMA Research estimated that the UK HA market will be worth some $235.6 million at distributor selling prices by 2016. In terms of volume, this equates to around 37,000 systems installed. In terms of importance, access and security control continues to be the most popular application area for HA, followed by multi-room audio, home theater, climate control, and lighting control.
It is estimated that around 75 percent of HA systems are sold via specialist dealers and distributors. The majority of these resellers offer a supply, installation, and programming service. The remaining systems are either sold direct, through electrical wholesalers, via the internet, or through non-specialist retailers.
AMA Research predicted that the pace of growth will increase over the next five years as the UK HA market becomes more established. The further development of broadband services is likely to support demand for HA, with new and improved packages taking greater advantage of digital technology. These will deliver a better and more efficient service to the homeowner.
Besides EU's energy certification and standard, some EU members have their own national regulations. For instance, in Italy, the CEI's (Italian Electrotechnical Committee) new standard 64-8/V3 defines three levels of home installations, describing the number and kinds of components required to certify each system level: Level 1 (minimal), Level 2 (greater usability), and Level 3 (extensive and innovative equipment). Level 3 requires the HA system to integrate at least four functions, amongst them are anti-intrusion, load control, lighting management, temperature control, scenarios, remote control, sound systems, fire alarms, anti-flooding systems, and gas detectors. With support and regulations from the local government, it is expected that construction businesses will soon advertise these system levels as factors that add value to any structure.
Due to the prevailing economic conditions in Europe, the HA market is likely to experience modest levels of growth in the short term as manyhomeowners tend to be reluctant to spend money on high ticket price items. However, in the longer term, when consumer confidence and spending increases, more rapid growth in Europe is anticipated.
Potentials of Energy Management in China
According to the Chinese government, China's energy demands will double in the next ten years. With the massive industrial development in China and acute power shortage, better energy management and smart grids that improve the economy of electric supply, energy consumption, and environmental protection are in dire need.
China is eager to build a smart grid network along with smart meter upgrades. According to Bloomberg, China will spend as much as $10 billion a year through 2020 to build a modern grid. A unified national power grid network project called the “West-East Electricity Transfer Project,” is currently underway. Besides the construction of a smart grid network, the project extends to households with smart meter upgrade encouragement.
New technical standards for smart meters to be introduced in August is going to pave the way for the market to pass the 100 million units shipped, according to iSuppli Market Research (part of IHS Electronics & Media). The Report predicts that of the 118.4 million electricity meters set to be shipped this year, 107.7 million will be smart meters and the compound annual growth in the meter market would be 9.5 percent a year.