[Podcast Series] Internet of Things (IoT) Powering Smart and Sustainable Homes of the Future

We are back for the second season of “Climate Change with Net-Zero Homes” podcast with a new highly reputed list of global CEOs, key opinion leaders, industrial analysts, innovators, energy optimists to educate us on how to reduce carbon emissions at home, how we can leverage smart technology and digital innovation so that we can collectively work towards the goal of limiting temperature rise to 1,5 degrees .

We also have a new host joining in from Schneider Electric every episode in the second season so we bring in thought leaders of varied opinions and expertise.

In this episode join Yan Golaz, SVP Global Offer Innovation at Schneider Electric along with John Canali, Principal Senior Analyst at Omdia as they discuss how IoT is powering sustainability in corporates and homes in the post-pandemic world.

John Canali and Yan Golaz also discuss Matter – the new connectivity standards redefining Smart Homes of the future, rising climate change concerns worldwide and the collective responsibility that consumers/corporates have in ensuring wider adoption of net-zero innovations and practices.

Guest: John Canali, Principal Senior Analyst, Omdia

Host: Yan Golaz, SVP Global Offer Innovation, Schneider Electric

Topics on this podcast:

1. How IoT is driving sustainability in corporations and homes.

2. Deep dive into the Internet of Things (IoT) innovations which are inching consumers towards a smarter and sustainable living

3. How Matter connectivity standard is set to redefine the smart home industry.

Listen to the complete “Climate Change with Net-Zero Homes” podcast here:

Want to follow the conversation closer? Read the transcript of Climate Change with Net-Zero Homes Podcast episode #5: “Can data be the path to Net Zero Homes?”

Yan: Hello and welcome to a new episode of Climate Change with Net Zero Homes. In this podcast, we are exploring how the different bricks that will help us achieve our net zero goals at home. I am Yan Golaz, your host for this episode, I head up Global offer Innovations for the Home & Distribution Division at Schneider Electric. Today, I’m joined by John Canali, Principal analyst with Omdia’s IoT service provider and platform strategies team to discuss some of the key themes and trends in IoT and how they are making homes more sustainable. So, Welcome John!

John: Thank you for having me, I am really excited to talk to you about how the Internet of things (IoT) innovations are helping to create not only smarter but sustainable homes. As I answered I am a principal analyst with Omdia, IoT platform and service provider strategy. Omdia is a leading global market research and consulting firm. A key area of the company has been researching how enterprises and consumers can embrace more environmentally sustainable solutions, Including smart homes.

Yan: Okay great John, you did write a compelling research on the role of IoT on Sustainability, and we are all keen to have you talk here today and together about your key findings. So, If I read you well, we are at a good momentum to make sustainability happen: Because with technologies are involving and progressing very fast, the companies have taken seriously and most importantly the mentality has changed a lot. So, what do you think about that few points that I shared with you?

John: So, across almost all the vertical we are seeing enterprises firstly setting goals for environmental sustainability and Secondly thinking of solutions than can be helping to measure how they are achieving these goals. Enterprises are increasingly interrogating their manufacturing processes and examining their supply chain to make them greener. They are reimagining packaging thru reduce waste. All of this is electrostatic there will be business case which can be made. Greener process can result in cost savings well the certainly is a very often and upfront capital cost to improve these capabilities. There is often a far grader long tail where companies can see upgrader cost savings.

This is increasingly true with energy cost rising. It is not just enterprises though consumers are looking to doing their part to create more sustainable world and looking the ways to reduce their carbon footprint. This is not always easy but aiming to reduce the fuel consumption and embracing renewable energy resources eliminating our waste by consuming less recycling more our very good starting points. Enterprises can continue to consumer centric environment. As with enterprises, consumers are feeling the pinch of higher utility prices with so much answering housing market. Embracing smart home solutions are likely to continue to merge as cool, cost effective and greener ways to update once home or apartment.

Yan: Yeah, Indeed John, Homes are one of the key markets to address. Did you know that an UN study has been made recently and says that home accounts for 20% of the global greenhouse gas emissions? 20% is big number its huge number. As you said individuals’ mentality is there to change that. We’ve seen this shift in mentality in a recent study that we’ve conducted. Now more than half of consumers think it’s important that their home becomes net zero. And energy efficiency and sustainability have become the top 2 main reasons why people improve their homes. So covid and the current energy tariff rise have probably accentuated this trend. And there are so many improvements we can do in homes! Reducing electronic waste, reducing energy the consumption but also using reusable hardware, recycling, or buying products made out of recycled materials… just to name a few of them. So, this is where we need to move on.

John: Just like high streets my colleague in the UK often say or mainstream as we say in US un need to be reimagine so do as residential housing market. In many markets the current stock of housing does not reflect the needs of the community. Not only we do need more housing particularly affordable housing, but we also need more efficient housing. In the face of pledging stock market collapse of crypto currencies appears to be a major disruption in the housing market is difficult to protect how consumer will react. At the answered of covid-19 many predicted enterprises will put back implementation of their IOT solutions to save money. Today we witness the opposite many enterprises exhilarated their IOT deployments to create safer environment for their workers and took advantages of offices, in factories been emptied to implement their solution.

I think is still too early to determine how the economic people saying in the housing market. Will play out for you know the creation of a smarter and more sustainable homes. However, IOT solutions such as Connected thermostat, Lighting system, Solar panel and Water meter can power consumer and make housing more efficient. Consumers and building owner can give properties or refresh with these systems and create more sustainable homes in the long run. When this is not simply need just go out and buy a new home to make significant improvement to their living situations. Nor do they need to build a new residence to create a greener home but can instead retrofitting systems. So, you know retrofitting is a cool option however there is potential downside whereas it can create more electronic waste which we view as a major environmental hazard.

However, enterprises can look to eliminate electronic waste and can create system can be recycled. If we look at consumer market many telecom providers allow consumers to bring in their phones to recycled once they upgrade their phone. Home provider should look these practices where hardware can be recycled after result. The idea of creating product they are more circular rather liner should be major goal. We just simply can’t just keep taking materials from the earth and throwing in the lands fill. We really need to plan a way to make sure these materials are reused.

Yan: You are right John, the power of IoT is great and infinite and this is our role, as companies like Schneider electric to make people aware of these benefits it can bring to a more sustainable living:

• IoT effectively measures carbon emissions. Great!!
• IoT helps you reduce your energy consumption. Great again !!
• IoT selects the greenest source of electricity, and it can also balance the energy loads in your home, so you charge your EV at the cheapest moment of the day so great opportunities and power of IoT behind of these examples.

So, the possibilities offered by IoT are really really good and as I was saying! And much broader that we thought it could be. AI combined with in-depth learnings of our habits makes IoT even more powerful to eliminate waste. And more importantly, if we look people don’t have to choose exclusively between their comfort or been energy efficient. They can choose both. The IoT makes their choice possible in combining these comfort and energy savings and makes their lives easier, better and greener. So, other side John did you see such trends emerge in your recent studies that you been thru?

John: We have, we are actually seeing that our connected center can provide more data to both consumer and enterprises. Putting these sensors into heating, cooling, lighting and water system can help monitoring usage reduce and ran off. At the end we see as a trend that more of these home systems to coming the market. The new system are often simpler to give and therefore easier for consumer to adopt and utilized.

Yan: Yeah Yeah definitely, sensors will play a major in enabling the smart and sustainable homes to happen. They are making automation or repetitive scenario feasible. And they give to homeowner’s valuable data insights as well. With this, they know what they consume, when and how much. So, do you see some interesting technologies recently in the market which you can share with us?

John: The key drivers is technology in the form of new improved forms of connectivity. Advancements and Bluetooth as well as the incorporation of low power long range wide area network connectivity is key. These technologies have some key backers such as Amazon, Alibaba and Microsoft. As well as more traditional network providers such as LoRa Wan. Wi-Fi has limitations in range product such as Amazon Sidewalk can extend connectivity to devices outside of the home. For instances smart wading system for the parameter of the home can be connected working inside of the home. Additionally, one of the cool use case I see is connected dog collar the owners of the pet has access their backyard and see their movement.

Yan: Okay it is quite exciting to see these trends of sensors with this new protocol expanding so it’s give more solutions. But for this specific protocol low bandwidth solutions could you please give us little bit insides?

John: Yeah, so one interesting point is amazon has already taken this technology even further and extended it in public spaces such as park, cities center, universities, and business. One secular connectivity to connect these spaces. Secular connectivity is pretty expensive and often drain a products battery. Well, LoRa and LR Wan solution utilize unlicensed secular from solution on license spectrum such as narrow band IoT coming to market. These solutions have been promoted by the traditional CSP so the communication service provider companies like AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone and ChinaMobo. In fact, in the case of China they are banned IoT has been used heavily in infrastructure. Most solution utilizing this technology have been named lesser consumer and more towards smart city and enterprises. There is very straight off between different form of connectivity and I certainly do not believe there is one side fits all answers. I am encourage to see more consumer enterprises and government are using connectivity the better understand how they can work within more environmental sustainable ways.

Yan: Alright, you are right the data can only be powerful if the process goes right, and I would add to it: if the devices correctly and natively speak together it makes even more powerful data. So, there actually, at Schneider, we welcome Matter as an excellent opportunity to make the IoT world much more valuable for the consumer, and at the same time to increasing efficiency and sustainability in homes. Matter, for the ones who listen to us and may not know what it is about, it is the name of a new communication protocol under development, involving something like 400 company’s todays, and led by the Connectivity Standards Alliance with was ex Zigbee Alliance. It is due to come live in fall 2022 and our teams here in Schneider are very much actively involved in making Matter reality. So, this is an amazing, coordinated efforts towards a unified communication between things and probably the biggest ever. So, John do you share the same excitement as mine?

John: I do share the same enthusiasm. Firstly, we are seeing the implementation of Matter will be critical for long gravity of smart home market. According to a recent consumer surveys the biggest arrears to adoption are the biggest cases in price point not the interpretability. In fact, confusion how devices are integrated was last on the list why consumer not purchase smart home technology. Then the Matter is crucial for the smart home market because of theoretically allow brands to focus on use cases and integration that will convince consumer of the value of smart homes.

Matter will facilitate new channels as well. Smart apartments and single homes builders are two channels that should be see them boost from Matter because of smart home silos. This means the builders and property manager will be able to build smart home solutions with low concerns of eco systems. So, again the eco systems would be the likes of created by Apple or Amazon or Google but we say if Matter is delayed for the implementation does not mean expectations then the value proposition of these new channels will be diminished.

Yan: Thank you John for sharing this perspective on Matter and also Thank you more actually on sharing your lights and insides on how the IoT can bring piece of puzzle in sustainable home. We have covered together the role of data play in turning homes to its netzero goals and as well as some specific technology enabled by IoT such as the low brand solution with you shared. So, Brick by brick, we are building the home of the future today and tomorrow. The ones that will not have good impact on the environment will become the netzero. So, thank you a lot John and it was a great pleasure for all of us to have you on the podcast and have a chat.

John: Hey, Thank you and I have been following the Climate change with netzero homes podcast. Really really appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today. I am really excited to see new development from Schneider Electric and how we can worked together revolutionized the homes of the future so they are more sustainable and more livable. Thank you again!!

Yan: Alright so, to catch up on all the previous episodes in this series and to find out more about tackling climate change with net zero, and how you can build a home of the future, hit the subscribe link wherever you are listening. If you know someone who will benefit from listening to today’s discussion, please share this episode with them. Join us next time, where we will be joined by another special guest to take us on another step on our net zero journey. Thanks for listening and see you soon. Bye!!

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Want to share any feedback, questions or comments? We’d love to hear them! Email Schneider Electric: johanne.guigue@se.com