Lowe’s Targets Urban Areas With Energy-Saving Iris Smart Home System Products

Lowe’s in 2015 will exhibit for the first time at CES as part of the Tech West exhibit at the Sands Expo, Kevin Meagher, vice president and smart home general manager, told Consumer Electronics Daily on a press swing through New York. He said Lowe’s will make its CES debut in 2015 because the home control market is “going mainstream” and Lowe’s is part of that. Home control has been part of CES in the past, but at a level beyond the reach of most consumers, Meagher said. “Anybody can do home automation for $5,000 a pop, but Lowe’s is trying to bring it to the masses at $179.” He was referring to the company’s Iris starter kit.

Meagher was in New York to highlight home control technology for the urban market, which has automation needs for air conditioners, for example, that aren’t permanently installed and are located individually in each room. The company showed a self-contained unit, the type typically used in Manhattan apartments, outfitted with an Iris control unit that can turn the air conditioner on and off with a smartphone app. A consumer can use the Iris app on a smartphone to turn the air conditioner on before leaving the office so the apartment is cool without the air conditioner’s having to run all day, said Meagher.

Lowe’s, an early retailer to offer a home control platform with Iris, is beginning to broaden its offerings to make it more interactive and social, Meagher said. Using ZIP code information provided by Genability, Iris can determine general energy usage rates for a given area to help consumers understand how they can manage energy usage costs. The Genability information “allows us to start making data far more relevant to consumers,” Meagher said. The Iris team is studying ways to create games around energy-saving opportunities, which could include a way to compete with neighbors on scores for energy efficiency, Meagher said.

Controllable thermostats are a new interest for utilities, according to studies showing that changes in consumer behavior based on controllable thermostats are resulting in energy consumption savings of “anywhere from 4 to 12 percent” -- in addition to savings from demand-response programs, Meagher said. The Iris platform can control any Z-Wave-enabled or ZigBee Home Automation thermostat, Meagher said. Lowe’s is working with Honeywell and Nest on their APIs (application programming interface) and expects to be able to control both “in the near future,” he said.

The benefits to utilities of thermostat control are significant in urban areas. “In a city like New York, if you can control a percentage of 7 million of the in-window air conditioning units that are running all day long on a hot day, that has a meaningful impact on the utility,” Meagher said. Utilities nationwide have roughly 35 rebate programs in place to encourage consumers to manage energy use, according to Lowe’s. The rebates range from $20 to $100 for consumers who use a programmable thermostat controllable by a laptop, smartphone or tablet, the company said.

Controllable water heaters are becoming critical areas for savings for utilities as well. Using connected water heaters and thermostats with a system like Iris can bring 70 percent of a home’s energy costs “under control,” Meagher said. For utilities, “if you want to make energy efficiencies, these are the two big things you have to concentrate on,” Meagher said.

By year-end, Iris will offer ways to monitor whole-home water and gas usage. In some areas, conserving water is more important than energy management, Meagher said. “If we can monitor the flow of water into your house we can tell if you have leaks.” That adds a new dimension to how people can monitor and protect their homes, he said. State Farm has partnered with Iris “not because of losses through burglaries,” he said, but as a way to minimize losses through fire and flood. Lowe’s has added a water pipe clamp in the Iris system that can measure water flow, joining a lineup that includes leak detectors and water shut-off valves, Meagher said.

Lowe’s is talking to other insurance companies, Meagher said, but partnerships haven’t been announced. Insurance companies are interested in data available from connected devices from the car to the home, Meagher said, and they're offering consumers a financial incentive to provide the data through discounted rates. “They're offering you a way to insure you for a lot less if they understand your risk level,” he said. Home monitoring devices allow insurers to monitor the status of subsystems, and consumers can choose whether they want to participate, he said. If insurance companies know someone is home most of the week and the house isn’t empty, “you're less likely to have losses” due to water leaks, Meagher said. Most home losses “aren’t about burglary,” he said. Consumers who have connected water leak sensors and smoke and fire sensors “are going to be able to react a lot faster,” he said. Meagher envisions a time when insurance companies will offer different rate levels based on the levels of connected sensors on customers’ property.