Each year, more and more people are interested in automating their lives, from home security systems that can be controlled through their smartphone to a refrigerator that can tell you when your milk is about to expire. If there’s one thing that we have learned, it’s that making things simple, convenient and accessible are high on the priority list. The growing market for smart home technology is no exception to this trend.

So what exactly is a smart home?

Essentially, a smart home is equipped with features that allow it to be controlled from anywhere at anytime by use of phone, computer or internet access. Just as the move towards “green” has introduced a new way of doing business throughout the world, smart homes that offer increased security, lower utility bills and ultimate comfort are the next wave of eco-conscious automation.

Smart Home Statistics

While less than 1% of U.S. households currently own a smart home system, this is expected to change drastically in the next few years as emerging technology and increased interest drives down prices for these systems. As of February, in fact, Google got in on the smart home market by making a 3.2 billion dollar purchase of Nest Labs, “whose mission is to reinvent devices in the home such as thermostats and smoke alarms.”

More than 2/3 of consumers currently rank security as the number one reason to use a smart home system. From automated locks and cameras that can be accessed and controlled through an app to fire and carbon monoxide alarms that can be essential to your personal sense of security, there are many great options in the smart home market that are geared toward ensuring your peace of mind. For many real estate buyers on Maui, many of whom are gone for long periods of time throughout the year, the move toward smart home technology is an obvious choice for home protection.

Existing Smart Home Technology

Since automated technology for the home is still a relatively new market, many existing smart home systems are working out the kinks to make it more user-friendly, easily integrated with other smart-home products and affordable for the average homeowner. That being said, there are still many companies doing amazing things to make your home a safer and smarter place to live.

Some of our favorite products include:

Heating & Cooling – Nest

Boasted as the next generation thermostat, Nest learns what temperatures you like your home at and builds a custom schedule based on those preferences. Within a week of installation, Nest can begin to program itself, saving you money on unnecessary heating and cooling costs that come from not programming your home thermostat. It can even be integrated with Auto-Away, which automatically turns it to an energy-efficient temperature when you leave the house. If you’re headed back from a sweltering day at the beach, for instance, you can use your Nest app to program the thermostat to a certain temperature before you arrive home.

Home Security – Piper

Once a simple crowd-funding campaign, Piper quickly caught the eye of interested homeowners by earning $309,000 of its original $100,000 goal. Features of the Piper home security system include HD panoramic video, two-way audio, environmental sensors, internal memory for video storage, remote access with a fully integrated app on Android and iOS devices, automation and customized alerts like calls, emails, text messages or push notifications when security rules are triggered. Best of all, perhaps, is that there is no monthly fee, service contract, and you can set it all up yourself.

Appliance Automation – LG HomeChat

Your kitchen just got a whole lot cooler. LG’s new line of HomeChat appliances allow homeowners to automate mundane day-to-day tasks in a whole new way. Features for the refrigerator include the ability to ask what items are about to expire and request recipes based on what’s already in your fridge. Text “what are you doing?” to your washing machine to get the status of the current wash cycle or start a load of laundry while you’re at work. Get recipe recommendations from your oven, which auto-selects the correct cooking settings, and even text your vacuum to find out the last time your carpets were cleaned.

Air & Smoke Detection – Birdi

Surpassing its crowd-funding goal in February 2014, Birdi is the next step in air health and smoke detection. Not only does it alert your smart phone of fire and carbon monoxide levels, but it also tracks pollution, air staleness, humidity, temperature, pollen, dust, and can even tell you when someone is smoking a cigarette nearby. Birdi also senses when the batteries are running low and automatically mails you replacement ones, allows you to silence the alarm directly from your phone in case of a false alarm, alerts the fire department in case of emergency and wirelessly syncs to your smart phone.

Home Automation – WeMo

Want to use your smart phone to remotely control lighting in and outside of your home, turn off your Crock Pot when you’re stuck in a meeting or text you when someone enters your home? WeMo has paired with Belkin to make home automation simple and interesting. By also working with a relatively new website called IFTTT, or “if this then that”, users can create recipes for efficient home automation, including scheduling hallway lights to come on when the sun goes down, emailing you when your cat has used the litter box or automatically turning off a device when its energy costs reach a certain amount.

What’s Next

Between 2012 and 2020, the market revenue for smart home technology is expected to increase around 30% to $35.3 billion. According to Clear View Audio, the 5 Emerging Technologies Every Home will Have in 2020 include Light-Up Flooring and Furniture such as LED-enabled carpet, Gesture Control that allows you to control everything by pointing your finger, Conversing with Your Appliances, Fingerprint Security in order to keep the kids out of the wine cellar, and Smart Windows that eliminate the need for curtains, shutters or blinds.

While you may think that some smart home automation systems might not be necessary for you, only time and technology will tell what smart homes of the future will be able to do. Which features would you be most interested in trying? Let us know in the comments below, and mahalo for reading!