Home automation has been around for nearly 3 decades, however many people still regard it as rather a gimmick, or something that resembles the floating skateboard in Back to the Future. But are home automation systems useful in the modern home? Do they come in forms that are workable by anyone less than Bill Gates? And most importantly can they benefit the average household in day to day life? We spoke to Mile High Automation to get answers to all of these questions, and more besides.

Home Automation… The surprising benefits

Home automation systems seek to do one of three things, and those are to: increase security, improve efficiency and convenience or provide comfort. By looking at what the market has to offer today, it is possible to gain an insight into the sometimes surprising benefits of home automation.

Security

• CCTV System – CCTV systems have been employed by private residencies since their conception; however they can now benefit from their owners using a mobile device to view their property from anywhere, and at any time.
• Remote access control – Whilst at first glance a remote access control system may seem a frivolous waste of money, its practicality is somewhat surprising. Such systems allow the user to remotely control who accesses their property, whether it’s the house sitter watching the pets whilst you’re on holiday, or a teenage child returning home from school; remote access provides a helpful solution, whether you’re at work or aboard.

Efficiency and Convenience

• Lighting Control – If you think that lighting control is reserved for only actors creating an ambient mood at the flick of a switch, then you should think again. Lighting control systems come in all shapes and sizes, and can range from allowing you to switch off all the unissued lights at once, to recreating your own mood lighting.
• HVAC (Heating, ventilation and air conditioning) Automation systems – HVAC automation systems provide a little more freedom than the traditional home systems. Just think, no more returning to a cold home after that beautifully warm holiday. You can switch your heating on from another country.
• Temperature Adjustment – If you’re a frugal person, and you turn your thermostat down every morning before you leave, then you’ve probably gotten to work and started wondering whether you remembered to do it that day. A home automation system could manage all this automatically for you.

Comfort

• Sound or Home Cinema System – Many of us have seen those private cinemas that are seemingly a standard feature within the homes of the rich and famous. But are they really reserved just for those that represent ‘the other half’? Today people are able to install similar systems with a little investment, and a home automation system can provide a one stop remote for switching between home cinema, TV and music.

From this list, it is easy to see that home automation systems have a wide and varied range of benefits; whilst some systems may be of more use than another, there is certainly no modern home that wouldn’t benefit from some sort of home automation system.