Winter is officially here in the northern hemisphere. As long, hazy summer days make way for dwindling daylight hours and falling temperatures, homeowners increasingly turn their thoughts to ways of staying warm, safe and cozy.
When it comes to creating a welcoming environment at home, the Danish have long led the way with their ‘hygge’ concept. With up to 17 hours of darkness per day in the depths of winter, and average temperatures hovering around 0°C, the Danes have made crafting cosy bolt-holes into an art form.
And while creating this sense of warmth and refuge from harsh weather traditionally relied on open fires, candles and dimmed lighting, technology is now setting the pace for creating the perfect winter scene at the touch of a button.
Fully immersive experiences
At the forefront of this revolution are smart systems, such as Philips Hue, which enable homeowners to easily control their lighting and create the right ambience for every moment. They can produce immersive experiences by co-ordinating lighting with different times of the day and synchronizing with home entertainment content.
To support this, ABB has developed a range of smart switches that can turn lights on and off, dim specific bulbs and control preferred light scenes, all from a configurable app, which allows users to personalize home lighting and ambience easily.
Remote controlled warmth
Warmth is a key component of creating a welcoming home during the winter months and technology has now made coming home to a cold house a thing of the past. Thanks to smart technology, the intelligent homes of today can automatically adjust the heating, alter the lighting and control home entertainment systems to deliver bespoke environments.
Solutions such as ABB’s MyBuildings portal [powered by its cloud-based, industry-leading portfolio of digital solutions, ABB Ability™] allow remote management and control of a wide range of automated home and building services, including heating and lighting, while away from the home.
Once at home, systems like these can also help reduce heating bills with the use of window contacts. Whereas a draft from an open window would cause a traditional thermostat to turn up the heating, window contacts have the opposite effect, automatically reducing the heating and saving valuable resources until the window is closed again.
Always watching
The arrival of shorter days and longer nights often coincides with an increase in crime – particularly home burglaries. This can be a particular threat to those living in semi-urban and rural areas where policing and street lighting is sparse and electronic surveillance virtually non-existent.
Movement and presence detectors, such as the ABB-Watchdog 220 MasterLINE system, offer peace of mind through guaranteed uninterrupted surveillance of all areas in and around the home. Stylish but inconspicuous, they provide a range functions including a twilight setting, which switches lights to 15 percent of their capacity during twilight hours, programmable light switch-off delays and adjustable operating modes, including a vacation setting.
Technology has also put security in the hands of the homeowners. User-friendly intrusion and alarm systems, like ABB-secure@home provides effective infrared detection both outside and inside the home as well as door and window opening alerts. The home can be split in to pre-defined zones and interior detectors continually monitor the atmosphere for gas, smoke or water leaks.
The door entry system lets users control the front door with a smartphone anywhere there is a wi-fi or mobile signal. The camera module integrated into the ABB-Welcome door allows the user to decide whether to let the visitor in or not and also captures images, which can be downloaded to any registered mobile device, giving complete peace of mind.
Effective deterrent
On dark winter nights, when no one is at home, making the property look occupied is often one of the most effective deterrents. Using smart solutions like ABB-free@home®, users can now create a range of scenarios that make empty homes look lived-in. Blinds can be programmed to shut at dusk, lights to switch on in the evening and TVs, radio and other electrical appliances can be programmed to switch on and off at various times.
In the event of any attempts at unauthorised access, window and door sensors can monitor for movement and immediately send any status change to the homeowners via the home automation system.
Warming to home technology
Our homes are no longer static standalone objects – they can alter and adapt to meet changing environmental conditions as well as the mood of the occupier. The growth of Artificial Intelligence means homes are now also ‘learning’ from historical data, finding key usage patterns such as when a family arrives home or puts the heating on. This is paving the way for future controls that are even more intuitive and can automatically select settings and options based on previous preferences. The reality is that our homes are becoming more intelligent, which will help us all to stay safe, warm and secure this winter.
To find out more about ABB’s smarter home solutions, please visit: https://new.abb.com/buildings/smarter-home
