Challenges of information and communication technology in energy efficient smart homes

Energy saving is an important issue in the times of increasing energy prices. Products and services provided by the information and communication technology (ICT) can support energy efficiency and emissions reductions. The synergy of ICT and a residential area gives rise to the smart home environment. Ecological and smart home network applications should not only improve the peoples life satisfaction in the domain of health care, security protection, and efficient management of energy and resource consumption, but they should also enable personal happy life through easy communication with community people, high level entertainment, continuous education and so on. A smart home in the smart grid is the latest addition to a family of ideas emerging in relation to the ICT usage in the home. This paper presents an overview of the smart home concept and some challenges that ICT faces in that environment.