Smart home technology adoption in Denmark: Diffusion, social differences, and energy consumption

Abstract

Smart home technology (SHT) is increasingly entering homes to provide services such as energy management, security, comfort, and convenience. However, research shows that adoption varies across social groups and that SHT might affect energy demand. Denmark is considered a frontrunner in the uptake of SHT and offers a unique opportunity to combine administrative household information with energy consumption data and survey responses on SHT uptake. This paper studies a representative sample of 1,468 Danish households to investigate SHT diffusion, social differences in SHT adoption, and correlations between SHT and energy consumption, divided into appliance use and heating. The results indicate that entertainment and home security are the most popular SHT services in Denmark and that SHT is more widespread among younger households, especially for entertainment and robotic help. In contrast, smart heating systems are more widespread among older households. Living in a detached house seems to increase the likelihood of having SHT, while the highest income group appears more likely to have security systems, and technical education seems associated with the adoption of SHT for heating management. Finally, smart security systems were associated with higher electricity consumption, and SHT for electricity management was associated with higher heating consumption and to a lesser extent higher electricity consumption, but there was no significant correlation between having smart heating control and heating consumption.