Compared to the development in North America, the Home Energy Management System (HEMS) market in Europe has a much larger market size, thanks to all the pilot projects.
HEMS in Germany are still mainly an enthusiast’s market mainly choosing DIY products, which do not accrue any installation cost. Reasons for the slow uptake in Europe’s biggest potential market, Germany, are the privacy concerns. There are many activities in the UK, which address directly to the consumers, although the postponement of smart meter installation does not boost confidence in the programme.
In France, until the end of 2012, no incentives or drivers have helped the market to take off. In the next two years however, this market is expected to grow, as the current thermal regulation RT2012 imposes the monitoring of energy use in dwellings. The optimistic scenario assumes that all new dwellings constructed following the rules of the RT2012 will be equipped with some sort of HEMS in order to comply with the regulation.
The market also needs to wait for a few more years until the roll out of smart metering is on track. There are several new HEMS products developed by small-scale start-up companies. Their main strategy is to partner with energy suppliers to supply HEMS products.
Intelligent Residential Environmental Controls include intelligent thermostats, automatic radiator valves, sensors, and electric heating control systems (the latter are also known as energy managers). The market for gas heating controls is heavily dominated by DIY products and this is a large segment in Germany. A large amount of products are sold to consumers via retail and online channel directly. Also, there is a considerable potential for such products in some Eastern European markets (e.g..Poland), where individual gas heating has been an alternative to district heating for a few decades.
Electric heating control systems are mainly used in countries with high penetration of electric heating systems (e.g. France, Norway), although they are expected to face hard times as a result of tightening energy efficiency legislation for new build in the largest market, France.
New global report now available by BSRIA
BSRIA has recently published its new and fully updated study of Connected & Smart Home markets. These new reports have been compiled through findings from 108 interviews with key industry contacts throughout Europe. The report focuses on the Connected & Smart Home evolution and the uptake of HEMS and Intelligent Environmental Controls. The result is a unique and independent publication and an essential tool for any marketing professional in search of information about Connected & Smart Homes.
For more information on the availability and costs of these reports contact Steve Turner on steve.turner@bsria.co.uk or phone on +44 (0) 1344 465629.