The idea of a smart home “shouldn’t be kept too narrow” as it will grow more and more outside one’s home.

That’s the view of the head of a global energy think tank, who believes a smart home is something that will be an extension of a person’s daily life.

He said smart homes include elements such as energy management devices, smart heating controls, renewable generation as well as electric vehicles and energy storage that go “beyond the house”.

Dr Philip E. Lewis from VaasaETT told ELN: “Smart home is something which is growing and it’s something which shouldn’t be kept too narrow. We tend to refer to it more as smart energy services and smart energy solutions rather than smart home because it tends to grow more and more outside the home and it will be an extension of your daily life beyond the home as well so it will be more mobile that just fixed in the home.”