Researchers from Monash University’s Emerging Technologies Research Lab have conducted an analysis of how the energy and tech sectors predict our everyday lives will change in the home of the future. Based on a review of key industry reports this study reveals how the home of the future is envisaged and the limitations of these industry visions. 

The findings from the analysis were synthesised into six speculative future scenarios that show how dominant industry visions could impact on the home. These scenarios focus on the anticipated technology and energy trends likely to affect household electricity demand in the future, should dominant industry predictions come true.

The scenarios are:

• Cool and Comfortable in Extreme Weather          
• Stay at Home Life           
• Ageing at Home
• The Smart and Easy Life
• The Smart Charging Commuter  
• The Set and Forget Prosumer

The research team developed the scenarios into comic-strips to combine energy and digital technology industry visions for our future homes. These comic-strip scenarios reveal the limitations of these industry visions, such as their focus on affluent, able and engaged households, who use technologies as intended by the energy and technology industries. 

Lead author, Dr Kari Dahlgren, explained how the aggregated industry scenarios are intended to raise new questions about how future household practices will intersect with digital and energy futures. 

“Each scenario draws together dominant energy and digital technology narratives, which are rarely considered together, and applies them to different everyday practice domains in the home. These practice domains, such as heating, cooling and comfort, correspond with where the majority of energy is consumed or where there are common peaks in demand,” said Dr Dahlgren. 

During the second stage of this project, researchers will present these industry scenarios to a diverse set of households, to understand how they see their lives changing in relation to them, or in other ways not currently represented by the industry visions. 

“This first stage of the project has played a crucial role in revealing how digital technology trends, such as the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, or Virtual Reality, are likely to complement and disrupt energy sector visions for increased distributed energy resources (such as residential solar PV and battery storage), automated appliances, and electric vehicles. 

Understanding these co-evolving industries and their anticipated futures is absolutely essential to develop more accurate forecasts for residential energy demand in Australia,” explained project lead, Associate Professor Yolande Strengers.

To view the full report please visit: https://bit.ly/3e2sAvF

What do you think homes of the future will look like?