According to a report from Mordor Intelligence, the global smart home market was valued at $35.7 billion in 2017, and it is expected to reach a value of $150.6 billion by 2023, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 26.9 percent during the forecast period.
The expected surge in smart thermostat sales will have equipment manufacturers, many of whom have their own proprietary controls, competing with the well-known universal thermostat brands, such as Nest, Honeywell, and ecobee.
According to a recent study by Parks Associates, 13 percent of U.S. broadband households owned a smart thermostat by the end of 2017. And while that’s still under a quarter of eligible homes, that number has nearly tripled from just three years prior, influenced by factors like the ubiquity of the smartphone and the rise of in-home AI.
Actually finding the mercury-containing culprits can be a bit of a riddle, partly because there’s no way to know exactly how many are still out there or where they are located.
Despite the fact that there’s a lot of airtime given to smart thermostats in the media and throughout industry conferences, the reality is that only about 15 percent of households own a smart thermostat, according to Rob Munin, president at Lux Products.
These devices are being sold by the millions, and in most cases, the distribution is directly to the consumer — the sellers are avoiding the traditional manufacturer-to-wholesaler-to-contractor model that our industry has used for years.
A study by scientists at the University of Leeds (I Googled it … it is a thing) said it takes a minority of just 5 percent to influence a crowd. So that means that 95 percent of people can be following for no good reason. That might explain the popularity of the Kardashians.
It’s a well-known fact that HVAC — the smart thermostat — is the first point of entry into smart-home sales. And with more than half of U.S. households predicted to own a smart speaker by 2022, according to a late 2017 study by Juniper Research, it’s a prime opportunity for HVAC contractors.
It started with smart thermostats. Now, in today’s world of smartphones, smart speakers, and Wi-Fi connections in 89 percent of U.S. households (as of 2017), smart homes are expanding in scope beyond heating and cooling controls — the first major foray into the smart-home concept — as manufacturers work to keep up with customer demand for continuous connection.