From Guest Blogger Blake Meredith: Consumer Electronics Show 2015 Home Automation Technologies | Smart & Green

Home automation has come a long way from when the first caveman bred a colony of glowworms to illuminate his stickman murals. Now, homes have IQs.

At the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show, hosted January 6-9 in Las Vegas, the best and brightest from the world’s biggest showcased their technological prophecies. LG unveiled a television barely thicker than a fingernail. NVidia introduced a mini super-chip powered by 10 watts and capable of a teraflop of processing power. Bragi showed off its Dash wireless in-ear headphones, which monitor heart rate and exercise intensity while pumping out tunes.

But perhaps the most pulse-pounding peeks into the future came from the home. CES 2015 set apart an exhibition room, sponsored by Bosch, specifically for home automation technologies. Some of these technologies, such as a WiFi-connected programmable tea kettle, may come and go. Hopefully, the ones that promise to reduce energy and water usage are here to stay.

French technology developer BeeWi is set to introduce its devices into the United States around March 2015. Its exhibition at CES 2015 has the pot boiling. All of BeeWi’s home automation products connect via Bluetooth to a hub device, which then connects to the home network. Homeowners can control any of their devices – light bulbs, door motion sensors, electrical appliance plugs, etc. – from the SmartPad Android, Windows or iOS app. By using BeeWi’s Smart Plug device, which can automatically disconnect a device when not in use, a homeowner can save $500 a year in electricity costs. Nationwide, phantom power costs Americans more than $4 billion annually. Cost of the BeeWi Smart Plug: around $75.

Winner of a CES Innovation Award, the Sengled SNAP light bulb is the offspring of the 1984 Clapper. SNAP is an LED interior/exterior lamp equipped with a 720p video camera, microphone and speaker. Homeowners love the Orwellian piece of technology; babysitters despise it. Sengled also sells bulbs with WiFi signal boosters, JBL stereo sound speakers and dimmable LED lighting. Most of its bulbs draw 10-30 watts of power, just 10-30 percent of an old-school incandescent bulb.

In the 1960s, residential and small business security company ADT controlled more than 80 percent of its market. Today, ADT Home Security still controls around 25 percent of the domestic residential security market, and to keep those customers happy, ADT unveiled the ADT Pulse Total Security system. Homeowners can remotely monitor and control thermostats, garage doors, appliances, lights and more. When equipped with the ADT Pulse Voice smartphone app, homeowners can do all the above by speaking commands in deep, authoritative voices into their mobile phones. ADT Pulse IFTTT Integration can even automatically adjust thermostat temperatures based on incoming weather patterns. Exact savings are difficult to calculate, but homeowners can expect 10-20 percent annual savings in heating and cooling costs thanks to a general programmable thermostat.

Belkin goes one step further to prop up Mother Nature. The sleek, silvery Belkin lineup of home sensors includes an experimental WeMo Water sensor. When attached to the home plumbing system, the Water sensor can calculate water consumption and usage frequency, thereby sending everyone soaking in a jacuzzi bathtub on a guilt trip. Currently, the average American uses about 100 gallons of water every day. Drought-stricken California hopes to reduce that number to 50 gallons per day. The WeMo Water sensor might be able to help.

Not all green CES 2015 home automation toys were large scale, either. The Parrot Plant Pot automatically detects soil conditions and waters itself, thereby introducing virtual gardening for those who wish to grow herbs, trees, and more, but lack the ability to remember to water often. If only engineers could bequeath devices with a sense of sarcasm to equalize their new-found intelligence.