Green Intelligent Homes: A Perspective on the Future of Smart Homes

and Their Implications

Joseph Bugeja

and Andreas Jacobsson

Internet of Things and People Research Center, Department of Computer Science and Media Technology,

Keywords:

Smart Home, Home Automation, Internet of Things, Artiﬁcial Intelligence, Security, Privacy, Sustainability.

Abstract:

The smart home technology market is witnessing rapid growth due to the advent of more advanced, intuitive,

and affordable solutions. As the adoption of these technologies becomes more prevalent, there is a need

for research to explore potential avenues for pervasive smart living. This study aims to review the available

literature and industry studies, along with our own experiences in the ﬁeld, to identify and discuss potential

future research in the smart home. We observe that the future of the smart home will likely be focused

on improving the user experience, with a greater emphasis on personalization, automation, and Artiﬁcial

intelligence (AI)-driven technologies, leading to what we call the "Green Intelligent Home". Through this

analysis, this study aims to offer insights into how the development of smart homes could shape society in the

future and the potential implications of such a development. This study concludes by suggesting a framework

for knowledge development in the smart home domain.

1 INTRODUCTION

The smart home has become an increasingly popular

topic in recent years. For example, according to Di-

mensions

, the number of studies about smart homes

– publications with the term "smart homes" in their ti-

tle and abstract – has increased from 908 publications

in 2015 to 2,366 publications in 2020. This is mainly

due to the proliferation of affordable and accessible

smart home technologies. It has also seen signiﬁ-

cant growth in recent years, due to the development

of technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT),

sensors, smart appliances, cloud computing, as well

as digital assistants, and an increased understanding

of smart home technology’s potential impact on pri-

vacy and way of life. Smart home technology can

be seen as an extension of building automation into

the residential environment through the use of IoT

technology. The network-connected devices, which

are known as smart home devices or smart devices,

are typically interconnected to a smartphone or tablet

via technologies like Wi-Fi, Thread, or Bluetooth. A

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0546-072X

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8512-2976

https://app.dimensions.ai [Accessed on 01-March-

2023].

typical smart home may include devices such as con-

nected video doorbells, smart speakers, and electronic

door locks (Bugeja et al., 2022). The home may refer

to a single-family house, an apartment, or other type

of living situation (Tannou et al., 2022). Meanwhile,

the emergence of various IoT-based devices, such as

those produced by global technology leaders such as

Amazon, Google, and Samsung, has driven recent de-

velopments in smart homes.

According to Fortune Business Insights

, the

global smart home market is also expected to grow

from $99.89 billion in 2021 to $380.52 billion in

2028. Also, according to Statista

, there will be

around 375.3 million smart home devices in 2024.

Smart homes are considered one of the critical en-

ablers of the shift toward smart living. Smart living

promises to increase the comfort, security, and energy

efﬁciency of our daily lives through digitalization and

the networking of smart devices. The popularity of

smart homes is due in part to the many potential ben-

eﬁts that they offer.

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-

reports/smart-home-market-101900 [Accessed on 01-

March-2023].

https://www.statista.com/forecasts/887613/number-

of-smart-homes-in-thesmart-home-market-worldwide

[Accessed on 01-March-2023].

186

Bugeja, J. and Jacobsson, A.

Green Intelligent Homes: A Perspective on the Future of Smart Homes and Their Implications.

DOI: 10.5220/0011964800003482

In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Internet of Things, Big Data and Security (IoTBDS 2023), pages 186-193

ISBN: 978-989-758-643-9; ISSN: 2184-4976

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

For example, smart homes can save energy by au-

tomatically adjusting lighting and heating and cool-

ing settings based on user preferences. Some studies

also discuss smart homes as one of the core elements

of sustainability efforts due to their energy-efﬁciency-

related beneﬁts; in fact, multiple studies emphasize

smart home technologies for achieving net-zero en-

ergy buildings (AlFaris et al., 2017). Smart homes

can also provide increased security and safety by al-

lowing users to remotely monitor their homes from

anywhere in the world. They are also seen as a key en-

abler for personalized care and independent living for

the elderly, disabled, or chronically ill (Basarir-Ozel

et al., 2022). Additionally, smart home technology

can make everyday tasks easier and more convenient

for all users, such as by allowing them to control ap-

pliances with their voice or gestures. Hence, it is a

valid assertion that smart home technology has im-

proved the intelligence and interconnectedness of our

conventional homes, thereby promoting the advance-

ment of the concept of smart living.

Despite the growing interest in smart homes, the

existing research has, to the best of our knowledge,

not yet fully explored the potential futures of the

smart home and how it is advancing the concept of

smart living. This study seeks to ﬁll this gap by re-

viewing the scientiﬁc literature in the ﬁeld of smart

homes, as well as industry studies and our own expe-

riences from years of research in the smart home ﬁeld.

We identify four main characteristics for the smart

home of the future, i.e., what we refer to as the "Green

Intelligent Home". The research documented in this

paper is relevant as it can help inform stakeholders in

the smart home market and reveal opportunities and

potential implications of this rapidly developing ﬁeld,

which is closely intertwined with personal life in our

homes and most private spaces. The ﬁndings of this

research can also be used to guide the development of

the smart home market and create a more sustainable

and efﬁcient future.

2 BACKGROUND AND RELATED

WORK

For decades, visions of smart homes with advanced

technologies have been developed under various

names such as "Intelligent Home", "Smart Home",

"Interactive Home", and "Home of the Future"

(Friedewald et al., 2005). However, these early ver-

sions of smart homes were largely limited to labora-

tory experiments and could only be controlled locally

with limited user interaction (Bugeja et al., 2018).

They were not typically integrated into the everyday

objects of the home and were not connected to the In-

ternet in the widespread and pervasive way that cur-

rent smart home technology is.

According to Aldrich (Aldrich, 2003), a smart

home can be deﬁned as "a residence equipped with

computing and information technology, which antic-

ipates and responds to the needs of the occupants,

working to promote their comfort, convenience, se-

curity and entertainment through the management of

technology within the home and connections to the

world beyond". Balta-Ozkan et al. (Balta-Ozkan

et al., 2013) deﬁne a smart home as a "residence

equipped with a high-tech network, linking sensors

and domestic devices, appliances, and features that

can be remotely monitored, accessed or controlled,

and provide services that respond to the needs of its

inhabitants". These advanced user assistance systems

help inhabitants fulﬁll different tasks and provide (in-

telligent) assistance. Bugeja et al. (Bugeja et al.,

2022) describe a smart home as a residence that uti-

lizes Internet-connected technologies to automate and

manage the various appliances, devices, and utilities

within the home. These technologies often harness AI

techniques, such as machine learning, in their devices

to increase their autonomy. The demand for improved

comfort, safety, energy efﬁciency, and health, as well

as advancements in economics, society, and technol-

ogy, drive the smart home market and contribute to

the expanding potential of these homes.

This expansion of the smart home is recognized

in earlier works, such as Solaimani et al. (Solaimani

et al., 2015) and Berry et al. (Berry et al., 2016), as a

constantly evolving ﬁeld with many possibilities. So-

laimani et al. (Solaimani et al., 2015) suggest that

the term "smart living" may be a more accurate de-

scription of the expanding technology as it extends

beyond the traditional residential setting. Berry et

al. (Berry et al., 2016) describe the smart home as

a "ﬂuid and unstable ﬁeld of possibilities," emphasiz-

ing the potential for innovation and growth in vari-

ous directions. With the smart home growing outside

of the physical home and into outdoor and commu-

nal spaces, digitized bodies, and mobile devices, this

industry has an expanding spectrum of goods and ser-

vices in addition to the continuous growth of space

itself. Additionally, differences can be seen across

the market, from low-cost DIY solutions and off-the-

shelf products to high-end, architecturally designed,

fully integrated, and professionally installed homes.

As such, the concept of the smart home is no longer

just about convenience, safety, and peace of mind but

also about smart living, with the home being wher-

ever we are constantly in the service of whatever its

human owners (users) want to do.

Green Intelligent Homes: A Perspective on the Future of Smart Homes and Their Implications

187

This shift towards putting individuals at the center

has enabled the development of services that provide

them with a maximum range of services, such as med-

ical care, without requiring them to leave their homes.

Some industry leaders argue that the current smart

home is merely a connected home, where legacy de-

vices are upgraded with intelligence, command, and

control, but are still distant from providing truly intel-

ligent services that can anticipate and respond to the

needs of their inhabitants. An intelligent home that

focuses on providing a personalized experience to its

users is recognized as the next evolution of the smart

home. As the boundaries of the smart home expand,

so do the possibilities of what it can offer, including

the provision of new services and the merging of the

smart home with other domains such as healthcare,

education, and entertainment.

As the smart home industry continues to expand,

there is a growing need for research in this area. This

includes exploring the usage of smart home technol-

ogy in various settings, how it can be used to improve

the lifestyle and environment of users, and how it can

affect the wider society and economy. Additionally,

research is needed to understand the implications of

this technology in order to ensure that it is used re-

sponsibly and ethically. This understanding of the

implications of smart home technology is vital for re-

sponsible smart home development.

3 POTENTIAL FUTURE

SCENARIOS OF SMART

HOMES

In order to investigate visions of the future smart

home, we reviewed a variety of sources, including

scientiﬁc literature, industry studies, consumer mag-

azines, newspapers, and online forums and blogs.

We also looked into actual technological products,

particularly by examining the Consumer Electron-

ics Show

, arguably the largest global technology

tradeshow showcasing various smart home technolo-

gies.

We conducted a manual, thematic analysis of

the extracted information. As a result of the the-

matic analysis, we identiﬁed four key characteristics

(themes): autonomy, personalization, connectedness,

and sustainability. These characteristics provide in-

sights into the potential avenues for the future of the

smart home and how it could revolutionize the way

we live. We refer to a smart home that exhibits all

the mentioned characteristics as the "Green Intelli-

https://www.ces.tech [Accessed on 01-March-2023].

gent Home" (see Figure 1). The results of these in-

vestigations are presented in Section 3.1–3.4 and rep-

resent potential future scenarios for the smart home.

We also remark that the future of the smart home is

difﬁcult to predict with certainty, as it is dependent

on a number of factors, including technological ad-

vancements, consumer demand, and industry devel-

opments. Nonetheless, industry trends and techno-

logical progress suggest those characteristics that are

likely to continue to evolve over the coming years.

3.1 Completely Autonomous Smart

Homes

Smart homes of the future will be completely au-

tonomous, able to run and manage themselves with-

out any input from their human occupants. Employ-

ing AI and IoT technologies, these homes will be able

to handle all of the mundane tasks of daily life, free-

ing up their occupants to pursue more interesting and

enjoyable activities. Recently developed AI-powered

robots that help pick up items around the house and

act as personal assistants, for example, have already

demonstrated a certain level of autonomy

. In the fu-

ture, humans will not have to think or intervene like

engineers, as they will not have to conﬁgure, update,

integrate, reboot, or manage any part of a digital-

ized home. The home will require no input from hu-

mans. Partly, this may be possible through the use of

self-sustainable sensors, which reduce maintenance

requirements (Dong et al., 2021). Also, it may be pos-

sible by using brain waves as the smart home control

mechanism, i.e., the Brain Computer Interface (BCI)

(Bennett et al., 2017). BCI technology is still at an

early stage, but there are already applications of it in

smart homes, for example, for in-home monitoring of

dementia care (Ienca et al., 2018).

Intelligent decision-making and control systems,

based on machine learning, will be able to ob-

serve, learn, adapt, predict, and respond to the needs,

lifestyles, and habits of occupants. Furthermore,

these systems will be able to proactively determine

the needs of occupants and provide services accord-

ingly that are tailored to the individual occupants.

Predictive systems that ofﬂoad cognitive mundani-

ties from everyday life by determining what tasks are

likely to be done next and doing them on our behalf

are developing rapidly (Dunne et al., 2021). Even se-

curity protection and privacy measures will be further

strengthened by incorporating fully autonomous ca-

pabilities powered by machine learning, making it an

https://www.cnet.com/home/smart-home/samsung-

ces-2021-robots-will-clean-your-house-and-pour-you-a-

glass-of-wine [Accessed on 01-March-2023].

IoTBDS 2023 - 8th International Conference on Internet of Things, Big Data and Security

188

Figure 1: A conceptual representation of the Green Intelligent Home and the main technologies enabling it. This home

combines IoT and AI to provide a completely autonomous, personalized, connected, and sustainable smart living environment

for the occupants.

increasingly vital feature in the smart homes of the

future. This enhanced convenience and comfort pro-

vided by autonomous smart homes has the potential

to greatly improve the lives of their occupants.

3.2 Completely Personalized Smart

Homes

Smart homes of the future will be able to provide their

occupants with a completely personalized experience,

tailored to their individual needs and preferences.

Through the use of innovative technologies such as

AI-based decision support systems, 3D sensors, Blue-

tooth beacons, and ultrasound signals, as well as non-

invasive methods for monitoring human state and en-

vironmental parameters, smart homes will be able to

adjust their temperature, lighting, and sound levels

to suit the occupant’s needs, as well as provide them

with tailored entertainment, optimal security, and en-

gaging informational content. The characteristics of

this type of home that are intended to promote nat-

ural and meaningful interactions between the home

and its occupants were already identiﬁed in the survey

published by Meyer et al. (Meyer and Rakotonirainy,

2003) in 2003.

Moreover, smart homes of the future may support

adjustments, perhaps through robotics, to the furni-

ture layout to perfectly suit the occupant’s needs and

moods. The alteration of the living space can also be

used to increase exposure to visual cues, helping the

residents form new habits. Indeed, interventions that

disrupt the environmental factors or cues may result

in habit changes (Verplanken and Wood, 2006). By

combining multiple input sources, smart systems will

be able to better understand and implement individ-

ual preferences, sensing who enters and exits a room

while changing the light, sounds, temperature, and

safety features accordingly. Smart homes will also

improve their ability to make context-aware decisions

for providing personalized services such as manag-

ing air quality and heating, as well as providing as-

sistance with product ﬁnding and automated billing,

with the aim of providing a much higher level of com-

fort, safety, and functionality. This may be achieved

without relying on additional appliances or plugin

features, as smart homes already have built-in tech-

nologies that support these functions

. An alternative

to the smartphone, which is currently the main device

used to communicate with smart homes, may be intel-

ligent intuitive interfaces which are embedded in ob-

jects and the environment (Dunne et al., 2021). This

would allow users to interact with their entire smart

home, at least locally, in a more natural way without

the need for a separate device in the future.

3.3 Completely Connected Smart

Homes

Smart homes of the future will be completely con-

nected, allowing for a range of communication and

data-sharing capabilities, as well as services and en-

vironmental monitoring. All of these devices and

appliances within a smart home can work together,

communicating with each other, to create a truly con-

nected home. With advancements in technology, it

is anticipated that device and service interoperability

will not be a pertitent issue, allowing for a seamless

connection between devices, services, and the user.

In line with this trend, a new royalty-free standard

for smart home devices, known as Matter

, has been

released recently with the goal of making all smart

home devices interoperable.

https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/business/

smart-homes-will-soon-take-care-of-you-reports-

idtechex-9286085 [Accessed on 01-March-2023].

https://csa-iot.org/all-solutions/matter [Accessed on

01-March-2023].

Green Intelligent Homes: A Perspective on the Future of Smart Homes and Their Implications

189

Moreover, smart homes of the future will be bet-

ter connected with their surrounding environments.

For example, they will be able to communicate with

smart cities to provide access to services such as pub-

lic transportation, energy management, emergency re-

sponse, and environmental monitoring. This will pro-

vide homeowners with an enhanced level of safety

and convenience. Connectivity, more speciﬁcally ex-

tended networks that go beyond the boundaries of the

physical home to smart gardens, smart driveways, and

beyond smart neighbors, is possible with mesh net-

working technologies such as Amazon Sidewalk

that

increase the range of low-powered connected devices.

It is also likely that interconnectivity between smart

home devices and their users will be faster through

the use of new standards such as Wi-Fi 7 and as 5G

becomes more widespread. Additionally, data col-

lected from smart homes can be used to improve local

services, making life more comfortable for both in-

habitants and visitors. The data collected from smart

homes can also be used to analyze and predict pat-

terns in order to better understand the relationships

between people and their environment. Moreover,

as machine learning algorithms continue to improve,

the data collected from smart homes can be used to

generate increasingly accurate predictions and recom-

mendations that can further enhance the user expe-

rience. Furthermore, it is possible that the integra-

tion and cross-referencing of IoT data from various

devices within an individual’s home, ofﬁce, and car

across platforms within Web2 and Web3 will become

increasingly prevalent

. This could lead to a truly in-

tegrated and personalized experience that adapts to

the user’s preferences and needs, both inside and out-

side the home.

3.4 Completely Sustainable Smart

Homes

Smart homes of the future will be completely sustain-

able. With advances in technology, such as renew-

able energy sources, automated systems, and smart

appliances, these homes can produce their own en-

ergy, reduce their energy consumption, and manage

their waste. Focusing on sustainability, the Univer-

sity of Suffolk has recently unveiled a smart home that

aims to produce as little carbon footprint as possible

while still being a home that can be comfortably lived

https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/devices/

introducing-amazon-sidewalk [Accessed on 01-March-

2023].

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/

06/24/15-tech-leaders-predict-the-next-big-trends-in-

home-iot [Accessed on 01-March-2023].

Future smart homes will be able to generate their

own energy from renewable sources, such as solar,

wind, and geothermal, to reduce their reliance on util-

ities, and potentially eliminate the need for an exter-

nal power grid. Automated systems, like building-

integrated photovoltaics and solar thermal panels, will

be able to regulate the energy production and needs

of the home. Smart appliances will be able to intel-

ligently adjust their energy use according to the en-

ergy needs of the home. This may be possible as

the smart home devices will be better equipped to re-

spond to signals received from the energy provider.

This type of home will leverage also low-power con-

suming IoT, also known as Green IoT (Thilakarathne

et al., 2022), to help mitigate the climate crisis in the

forthcoming years. Additionally, novel self-powered

human-machine interfaces (Dong et al., 2021) capa-

ble of producing electrical signals upon external stim-

uli, such as body motion, may be integrated. Energy

harvesting from nearby connected devices, for exam-

ple, through radio frequency signals, may lead to po-

tentially battery-free solutions in the future. Finally,

smart homes will also be able to produce and recycle

their own waste, eliminating the need to transport it to

external waste disposal sites. Alternatively, it may be

possible to have autonomous drones or vessels auto-

matically collect and dispose of garbage and debris in

order to keep the surrounding area clean

4 POTENTIAL CONCERNS AND

IMPLICATIONS

Smart homes greatly impact our lives, work, and so-

cial interactions. However, it is crucial to address

potential societal concerns and implications. Table

1 links each Green Intelligent Home characteristic to

relevant concerns.

4.1 Privacy and Security

As smart home technology becomes increasingly con-

nected to external networks and more automated, it

also becomes more vulnerable to cyber attacks, rais-

ing concerns about the potential for misuse or abuse

of personal data (Iten et al., 2021). For instance, if an

adversary gains access to certain smart home devices

https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/23170971.suffolk-

unveils-home-future-martlesham-bt-park [Accessed on

01-March-2023].

https://oceanbuilders.com/blog/autonomous-surface-

vessel [Accessed on 01-March-2023].

IoTBDS 2023 - 8th International Conference on Internet of Things, Big Data and Security

190

Table 1: Summary of the characteristics of the Green Intelligent Home alongside the main concern being affected by each. The

symbol: indicates that the concern impacts the characteristic; G# indicates that the concern may impact the characteristic;

and # indicates that the concern is unlikely to impact the characteristic.

Smart home

characteristic

Privacy and secu-

rity

Energy consump-

tion

Manipulation and

inequality risks

Lack of self-

sufﬁciency

Autonomous G# G# G#

Personalized # G# G#

Connected G# G# #

Sustainable # # #

or services, they can potentially track the residents’

location, activities, and whether they are home or not.

Smart home devices may also collect sensitive data,

such as health-related data collected from biosensors,

making them vulnerable to breaches if proper security

measures are not in place. Moreover, as the number of

connected devices in a household increases, the attack

surface also grows, making it more challenging to se-

cure the home network. The increasing automation

and connectivity of smart home technology make it

increasingly challenging to protect ourselves and our

data from potential threats. Smart home technology

could be used for surveillance or intelligence gather-

ing without the residents’ knowledge, like with smart

speakers that always tend to listen for voice com-

mands. Such uses of technology could have conse-

quences for civil liberties and freedom of speech and

expression. These issues could become even more

pressing as devices become integrated with sophisti-

cated language models like ChatGPT. The seriousness

and extent of smart home attacks can be understood,

for example, in the context of a US household, which

is expected to have an average of 20 connected de-

vices by 2025

Companies can assure customers that their data

is safe by offering reduced insurance premiums, sub-

scription rates, or other forms of sponsorship. There

are also existing standards and regulations, such as

ETSI EN 303 645, the Security Evaluation Standard

for IoT Platforms, ISO/IEC 27402, and others that fo-

cus on the security and privacy of consumer IoT de-

vices. Another potential solution to these concerns is

the use of the Artiﬁcial Intelligence of Things (AIoT),

which represents the convergence of AI and IoT (Tan

et al., 2022). By embedding AI directly into the de-

vices that we use daily, the AIoT offers a new way to

deliver AI that can help protect data and ensure that

it is only shared when necessary, thereby enhancing

both security and privacy. This evolution may also

lead to smart home devices with autoimmunity, allow-

ing them to automatically prevent and contain certain

security attack vectors. To prevent misuse or abuse

https://www.parksassociates.com/blog/article/pr-

06152020 [Accessed on 01-March-2023].

of AIoT technology, responsible smart home devel-

opment and the implementation of measures to ensure

data protection and privacy are crucial, including the

use of AI to monitor and secure smart home systems

and devices and the implementation of strict data pri-

vacy policies and practices.

4.2 Energy Consumption

Additionally, even though smart homes could help

reduce energy consumption by automating energy-

saving tasks, they could also lead to an increase in

energy consumption as more devices are connected

and require more power to run. This could lead to

a strain on the energy grid, resulting in power out-

ages and other issues. It could also result in higher

electricity bills, longer wait times for repairs, and an

increased risk of blackouts. This scenario could then

lead to a decrease in the quality of life for many peo-

ple, particularly those with low income, as the cost

of energy becomes a greater burden on their budget.

Additionally, if energy costs continue to rise due to

increasing demand or the limited availability of fossil-

based fuels, they could have an adverse impact on the

environment, leading to higher levels of air pollution

and a greater risk of global climate change.

The incorporation of AIoT in smart home tech-

nology allows for the transition from an "always lis-

tening" version to an "always ready" version. This

means that sensors will only be in use when needed,

reducing the continuous demand for electricity. This

may also reduce the effect known as standby power,

where connected devices continue to use electricity

when they are not in use. Another beneﬁt of the

AIoT is that it enables more efﬁcient data transmis-

sion through the compression of large amounts of

data into smaller packets, requiring less energy for

sending. These features enhance the functionality

of smart homes and also decrease the energy needed

for their operation. The use of low-power protocols

such as Thread improves energy efﬁciency even fur-

ther. Therefore, responsible smart home development

must prioritize energy efﬁciency in order to ensure the

sustainable and environmentally-conscious use of this

Green Intelligent Homes: A Perspective on the Future of Smart Homes and Their Implications

191

technology. By implementing AIoT, smart homes can

effectively reduce their energy consumption through

more efﬁcient energy usage and data transmission.

4.3 Manipulation of People and

Inequality Risks

There are concerns that smart home technology could

be used as a vector to manipulate people’s behavior

by sending targeted marketing messages or other in-

centives to users in order to encourage certain behav-

iors or target certain goals, such as political or com-

mercial objectives. For example, a refrigerator LCD

display could be used as an advertising platform by

technology providers. This could be used to incen-

tivize the residents to buy certain products or even

sway their opinions on political or social issues. It

can also occur more subtly in the form of customer

reward schemes or loyalty programs that offer resi-

dents discounts on, for example, their home insurance

if they enroll in such schemes. This data can be used

to create proﬁles of individuals that could then be sold

to third parties without the user’s knowledge or con-

sent, further adding to the potential for manipulation

and exploitation. Additionally, there is a risk of in-

creasing inequality as the technology becomes more

expensive and out of reach for some people, poten-

tially widening the gap of inequality between those

who can afford smart home technology and those who

cannot. The high cost (e.g., initial price, subscription

cost) for buying and using smart homes was identiﬁed

in a recent study by Basarir-Ozel et al. (Basarir-Ozel

et al., 2022) as the most prevalent inhibitor of their

adoption. This means that those with access to this

technology may be able to enjoy a more comfortable

lifestyle than those without, creating a divide in soci-

ety.

It is suggested that smart home technology be sub-

ject to ethical and responsible regulations, given that

the regulatory landscape for smart home technology

and IoT is still in its early stages and varies across

different countries and regions. In this regard, the Eu-

ropean Union’s General Data Protection Regulation

serves as an example of how laws and regulations can

be used to ensure that companies are transparent in

their use of data collected by IoT devices and smart

home technology. Additionally, industry best prac-

tices should be established to ensure that companies

are using the technology responsibly and ethically so

as not to coerce, deceive, or manipulate people. A

framework that comprises measures to enhance re-

sponsible smart home development could be enacted

to ensure that smart home technology is used ethi-

cally and transparently and does not contribute to the

widening of existing inequalities or the creation of

new ones.

4.4 Lack of Self-sufﬁciency

The increased reliance on technology, particularly

the further the smart home is advancing to become

more autonomous, could lead to a decrease in self-

sufﬁciency. This is as people, in general, become in-

creasingly dependent on technology to do their tasks

for them. This could lead to a decrease in problem-

solving skills, critical thinking, and creativity as peo-

ple become less able to think for themselves without

relying on their devices. This could leave people vul-

nerable in the event of a power outage, cyber attack,

or malfunctioning technology. A practical example

of this in the context of the smart home could be a

user who has forgotten how to manually adjust the

thermostat settings due to habituation, leading to a

sense of learned helplessness regarding their capacity

to control the thermostat. To mitigate this effect, the

user may have to take the time and effort to re-learn

how to adjust the thermostat manually as opposed to

relying on the device. The lack of self-sufﬁciency

could also lead to increased feelings of helplessness

and isolation as people become unable to do even sim-

ple tasks without the help of their technology (Sriram

et al., 2020). Increased dependence on technology

could lead to a decrease in the ability to be indepen-

dent, which could have a negative impact on our soci-

ety. It can also lead to some consumers, particularly

those who are unprepared for technology, developing

a psychological state of mind characterized by anxi-

ety (Mani and Chouk, 2018).

To reduce the risk of decreased self-sufﬁciency, it

is suggested to incorporate education and training into

the use of smart home technology. This could include

actively teaching users how to perform basic tasks

manually, so they do not become completely reliant

on the technology. Additionally, it is recommended

to encourage users to think critically and creatively

when using their devices rather than simply relying

on technology to do the work for them. Furthermore,

it is essential to provide users with the necessary re-

sources to troubleshoot and ﬁx their devices, such as

information and assistance from the AI or online com-

munities, so they can become more self-sufﬁcient, es-

pecially in the event of malfunctioning technology.

IoTBDS 2023 - 8th International Conference on Internet of Things, Big Data and Security

192

5 DISCUSSION AND

CONCLUSION

The smart home is a rapidly evolving technology that

has the potential to revolutionize the way we live.

In this study, we provided an account of how smart

homes can shape society in the future by describing

four scenarios that are emerging in the smart home

market and leading to what we coin the "Green Intel-

ligent Home", and the potential concerns and implica-

tions that they could bring. These four scenarios in-

clude increasing autonomy, personalization, connect-

edness, and sustainability in the smart home market.

One of the limitations of this study is the lack

of empirical data to support our claims. Future re-

search could address this by conducting large-scale

surveys, case studies, and experiments to validate our

hypotheses. Additionally, the potential beneﬁts and

risks associated with the scenarios described in this

study could change as technology evolves. Nonethe-

less, this study contributes to the ongoing discourse

on the future of smart homes and the potential impli-

cations of their widespread adoption.

As we move into the future, responsible and ethi-

cal use of technology is crucial to maximize its bene-

ﬁts. A shared framework for responsible smart home

development among users, governments, and the mar-

ket is needed to address potential negative implica-

tions, including privacy concerns and abuse, as well

as legal and ethical considerations. Further research

can enhance our understanding of smart home im-

plications and inform future decisions regarding the

technology.

REFERENCES

Aldrich, F. K. (2003). Smart homes: past, present and fu-

ture. In Inside the smart home, pages 17–39. Springer.

AlFaris, F., Juaidi, A., and Manzano-Agugliaro, F. (2017).

Intelligent homes’ technologies to optimize the energy

performance for the net zero energy home. Energy and

Buildings, 153:262–274.

Balta-Ozkan, N., Davidson, R., Bicket, M., and Whitmarsh,

L. (2013). Social barriers to the adoption of smart

homes. Energy Policy, 63:363–374.

Basarir-Ozel, B., Turker, H. B., and Nasir, V. A. (2022).

Identifying the key drivers and barriers of smart home

adoption: A thematic analysis from the business per-

spective. Sustainability, 14(15):9053.

Bennett, J., Rokas, O., and Chen, L. (2017). Healthcare in

the smart home: A study of past, present and future.

Sustainability, 9(5):840.

Berry, M., Gibson, M., Nelson, A., and Richardson, I.

(2016). How smart is smart? smart homes and sus-

tainability. Steering Sustainability in an Urbanizing

World, pages 239–251.

Bugeja, J., Jacobsson, A., and Davidsson, P. (2018). Smart

Connected Homes, chapter 13, pages 359–384. John

Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Bugeja, J., Jacobsson, A., and Davidsson, P. (2022). The

ethical smart home: Perspectives and guidelines.

IEEE Security & Privacy, 20(1):72–80.

Dong, B., Shi, Q., Yang, Y., Wen, F., Zhang, Z., and Lee,

C. (2021). Technology evolution from self-powered

sensors to aiot enabled smart homes. Nano Energy,

79:105414.

Dunne, R., Morris, T., and Harper, S. (2021). A survey

of ambient intelligence. ACM Computing Surveys

(CSUR), 54(4):1–27.

Friedewald, M., Costa, O. D., Punie, Y., Alahuhta, P., and

Heinonen, S. (2005). Perspectives of ambient intelli-

gence in the home environment. Telematics and Infor-

matics, 22(3):221–238.

Ienca, M., Wangmo, T., Jotterand, F., Kressig, R. W., and

Elger, B. (2018). Ethical design of intelligent assis-

tive technologies for dementia: a descriptive review.

Science and engineering ethics, 24(4):1035–1055.

Iten, R., Wagner, J., and Zeier Röschmann, A. (2021). On

the identiﬁcation, evaluation and treatment of risks in

smart homes: A systematic literature review. Risks,

9(6):113.

Mani, Z. and Chouk, I. (2018). Consumer resistance to in-

novation in services: challenges and barriers in the in-

ternet of things era. Journal of Product Innovation

Management, 35(5):780–807.

Meyer, S. and Rakotonirainy, A. (2003). A survey of re-

search on context-aware homes. In Proceedings of the

Australasian information security workshop confer-

ence on ACSW frontiers 2003-Volume 21, pages 159–

168.

Solaimani, S., Keijzer-Broers, W., and Bouwman, H.

(2015). What we do–and don’t–know about the smart

home: an analysis of the smart home literature. Indoor

and Built Environment, 24(3):370–383.

Sriram, V., Jenkinson, C., and Peters, M. (2020). Carers’

experience of using assistive technology for dementia

care at home: a qualitative study. BMJ Open, 10(3).

Tan, J., Sha, X., Lu, T., and Dai, B. (2022). A short survey

on future research of ai and iot technologies. In 2022

International Wireless Communications and Mobile

Computing (IWCMC), pages 190–195. IEEE.

Tannou, T., Lihoreau, T., Gagnon-Roy, M., Grondin, M.,

and Bier, N. (2022). Effectiveness of smart living en-

vironments to support older adults to age in place in

their community: an umbrella review protocol. BMJ

open, 12(1):e054235.

Thilakarathne, N. N., Kagita, M. K., and Priyashan, W.

D. M. (2022). Green internet of things: The next gen-

eration energy efﬁcient internet of things. In Iyer, B.,

Ghosh, D., and Balas, V. E., editors, Applied Informa-

tion Processing Systems, pages 391–402. Springer.

Verplanken, B. and Wood, W. (2006). Interventions to break

and create consumer habits. Journal of public policy

& marketing, 25(1):90–103.

Green Intelligent Homes: A Perspective on the Future of Smart Homes and Their Implications

193