Analysis of the Economic and Environmental Feasibility of a Home Automation System

Abstract

The current research was carried out to analyze the economic feasibility and contribution to homes and buildings automation in the field of environmental protection. The objective that led this study was to explore and investigate the increase in comfort and safety, as well as, the reduction in the electrical energy consumption, so that, it is possible to achieve greater energy efficiency in the No 3 building at the Technical University of Manabí (UTM) in Ecuador. In order to, investigate deeply the economic feasibility; it is relevant to be aware of the electric power and automation equipment cost that will be integrated into the Z-wave protocol. Moreover, the electric bill study contracted by the UTM this was developed initially with the monetary value of the electric power, which was regulated by the Electricity Control Agency. On regards to the environmental analysis, it was shown that the projection uses of the domotic system in the teaching building No. 3, not only reflected some economic and energy savings but also, it presented a considerable contribution to the environment, due to, the emissions reduction in CO2 to the atmosphere. To accomplish this environmental analysis, the CO2 Emission Factor was considered, regulated by the Ministry of the Environment, which is 0.7079 Kg CO2/kWh. It is important to mention that this value is applicable to all systems that are connected to the national electrical system. To validate the fulfillment of the outlined objective, it was considered two very important scenarios. The first one reflected the reduction of polluting emissions to the atmosphere, because of the use of the photovoltaic located in this build. The second one referred to the theoretical energy saving that will be obtained as the implementation of the home automation system.