The 2014 National Home Show kicked off today at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto, Ontario. The 10-day trade show is pegged as North America’s largest home and garden event, and this year’s event is focusing on the idea that home is what you make it, by presenting a range of versatile, multipurpose options for modern living.
One of this year’s focal points is the Urban Living Home, designed by Jackie Morra, which aims to optimize the use of space without sacrificing design. It also incorporates “avant-garde building materials” and smart technology (including DRIcore SMARTWALLS® and a fully-automated smart toilet).
Optimizing energy and space are increasingly becoming priorities for homeowners, especially those living in costly in urban areas where space is at a premium. In fact, the push towards smart, energy-efficient appliances is one of the major factors driving growth in the Global Household Appliance Market, which TechNavio reports to be growing at a CAGR of 4.08 percent through 2018.
Smart appliances are connected to smart grid power sources that communicate between end-user appliances and electricity providers to help optimize the operation of the appliances. According to TechNavio researchers, “using smart grids, power is supplied to smart appliances only when required by the user, thus controlling the power consumption to a huge extent. With smart grid technology making smart appliances energy-efficient and more useful to consumers”.
Large appliances account for more than 80 percent of the global market, and big appliance manufacturers such as AB Electrolux, Whirlpool Corp., Samsung, and LG Electronics Inc. have recognized the need to update these machines to meet consumer demand for energy efficiency.
Manufacturers have funnelled more and more investment into research and development and the related technological advancements have yielded interesting results. Take, for example, the SmartChime, an intelligent washing machine that automatically sets water temperature and adds the right amount of laundry detergent. Basically, it’s a washing machine that is more intelligent than your average 14-year-old.
Jokes aside, some of these advances seem a bit cursory at first, especially once you take a look at the price tag. Appliances aren’t cheap, and smart ones are even less so. The high cost of household appliances is a major challenge affecting sales of these products and it’s especially hard to convince consumers to upgrade when their refrigerator is running just fine.
But when you take into account the amount of energy consumed by large appliances such as dishwashers, washing machines and dryers, small changes start to become significant in terms of energy consumption and the related savings on monthly energy bills.
As the National Home Show states on its website, “urban living is not necessarily about where you live, it’s how you live,” and people are definitely living smarter. Smart appliances and smart grid tech is increasingly eclipsing older, not so eco-friendly varieties. And this, more than anything will keep the household appliance market afloat over the next few years.
For more market insights, view our Global Household Appliance Market 2014-2018 report.
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