[LINK] Free Sydney Smart Home

[Richard Chirgwin]

Tom Worthington wrote:
> The NSW Government is offering a family a free smart home in Sydney for
> a year. The family will receive free accommodation in return for writing
> about their experience using the energy and water efficient features of
> the house at the Newington Smart Village Project in western Sydney.
>
> The home uses some innovative energy technology, such as fuel cells, but 
> the "smart" part does not look very innovative, having the usual,
> and mostly useless, "you can monitor it from your iPhone" features of 
> such display homes.
>   
I've always wondered about that. Smart or not, I'd like the home to take 
care of itself, thanks. I don't think wet-nursing the appliances is a 
fun way to spend time. Let's see: "Lights on = use energy. Lights off = 
not using energy." Why do I need an iPhone to tell me that?

The idea is supposed to be "a detailed picture of energy and water use". 
Well: I know where the electricity goes (computers; fridge; lights; 
sometimes the TV). Ditto gas (clothes dryer, winter heaters). I know 
whether the water goes (showers; toilet flushing; washing machine; the 
sink; the bathroom basin - in roughly descending order). So why is (say) 
a home Website going to do anything other than itself become an energy sink?

The synergy between a plug-in electric car and fuel cells could be 
interesting to see.

But gee, the real upside would have to be getting a chance to empty a 
house so as to carry out some renovations ...
> Nate Cochrane described it in "Utilities seek Jetsons for home of the 
> future" (IT News, Feb 9, 2010): 
> <http://www.itnews.com.au/News/166760,utilities-seek-jetsons-for-home-of-the-future.aspx> 
>
>
> One catch is that you have to apply via the Energy Australia E-Tendering
> Portal, which is not exactly user friendly for the average family. 
Ha! Tendering portals are not user friendly for experienced tender 
respondents! They are uniformly awful.

RC
> The 
> system is designed for companies, so those without an ABN have to 
> register by pretending to be overseas company (tender ENERGY-447194): 
> <https://www.tenderlink.com/energy/>.
>
> One interesting feature of the the e-tendering system is that they
> provide a web based forum to ask questions about a tender and get
> answers. Here is the Q&A on the smart home (you need to register to see
> this):
> <https://www.tenderlink.com/energy/?&tenderer=2744.117&forum&topic=2600.9978>.
>
> More in my blog:
> <http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/02/smart-home-in-sydney-for-free.html>.
>
>
>