Topic of the Master Thesis "Smart House"

Abstract

The goal of this diploma thesis is to determine the concept of the smart house, why it is important for modern society, and which problems may be solved by implementation of the smart house technologies widely. After a literature review, some main features and possible equipment of the house were suggested and presented. The first part of the paper shows modern technologies and approaches of the smart house system development. The relation between the smart house and smart grids, advantages of the interconnection were reviewed. The most important result of that was regulation development of efficient energy consumption. The conditions of the smart technologies implementation such as people's attitudes, markets of devices and buildings were discussed. Economic and non-economic benefits of the smart systems penetration were represented as two different categories. Moreover, the benefits from the points of view of different involved participants were discussed. The second part is devoted to the factors, which have influence on a decision-making process and appraising of the smart house project. Taxes, inflation rates, electricity prices, and possible sources of the project financing were figured out for the Czech Republic and Russia. A methodology of assessing the economic benefits was described and explained further. The methodology focused on discounted cash flow techniques and included several familiar appraisal approaches in current use - such as calculations of net present value, payback time, internal rate of return etc. Their strengths and weaknesses were emphasized. Finally, the example of a possible modernization of the real house for a young family was presented. The house was partly reconstructed; nevertheless, there were places for improvements in the heating and lightening systems. Issues related to the organization of the smart systems integration were brought into the fore. The results of the economic evaluation of the house improvements did not support the expectations that penetrated systems would save money by using energy more efficiently. The money savings on the heating were observed as the largest feasible contribution to the savings, but anyway these investments would not be paid off in the end. Important conclusions include the fact that in most cases the smart home systems and appliances are developed as luxury goods, they simplify daily routine and make the life of households much more comfortable in their daily lives.

The goal of this diploma thesis is to determine the concept of the smart house, why it is important for modern society, and which problems may be solved by implementation of the smart house technologies widely. After a literature review, some main features and possible equipment of the house were suggested and presented. The first part of the paper shows modern technologies and approaches of the smart house system development. The relation between the smart house and smart grids, advantages of the interconnection were reviewed. The most important result of that was regulation development of efficient energy consumption. The conditions of the smart technologies implementation such as people's attitudes, markets of devices and buildings were discussed. Economic and non-economic benefits of the smart systems penetration were represented as two different categories. Moreover, the benefits from the points of view of different involved participants were discussed. The second part is devoted to the factors, which have influence on a decision-making process and appraising of the smart house project. Taxes, inflation rates, electricity prices, and possible sources of the project financing were figured out for the Czech Republic and Russia. A methodology of assessing the economic benefits was described and explained further. The methodology focused on discounted cash flow techniques and included several familiar appraisal approaches in current use - such as calculations of net present value, payback time, internal rate of return etc. Their strengths and weaknesses were emphasized. Finally, the example of a possible modernization of the real house for a young family was presented. The house was partly reconstructed; nevertheless, there were places for improvements in the heating and lightening systems. Issues related to the organization of the smart systems integration were brought into the fore. The results of the economic evaluation of the house improvements did not support the expectations that penetrated systems would save money by using energy more efficiently. The money savings on the heating were observed as the largest feasible contribution to the savings, but anyway these investments would not be paid off in the end. Important conclusions include the fact that in most cases the smart home systems and appliances are developed as luxury goods, they simplify daily routine and make the life of households much more comfortable in their daily lives.