50 Million Wireless Smart Homes and Buildings by 2018

Wireless sensor network technologies such as ZigBee, WiFi, Bluetooth, Z-Wave and EnOcean will enable 50 million smart homes and buildings worldwide by 2018, according to recent research by ON World.

San Diego, CA Feb. 27 2014—  By 2018, there will be 50 million smart homes and buildings enabled by wireless sensor network (WSN) technology, according to global technology research firm ON World.

“Wireless sensing and control technologies such as ZigBee, Z-Wave and EnOcean have been instrumental in making smart homes and buildings a reality,” said Mareca Hatler, ON World’s research director.  “Today, these WSN technologies are being joined by Bluetooth and WiFi with large and dynamic developer communities and the outcome is exponential growth with new innovations especially for smart home devices and services.”

Annual shipments of WSN devices for smart homes and buildings will increase by more than 600% within the next five years.  The top three markets are the following:

Energy Management

Cloud services and Internet connected smart energy devices have given consumers as well as small and medium sized building managers unprecedented control over their energy consumption.  Smart thermostats are one of the fastest growing smart energy markets, currently used by 15% of the broadband and smartphone/tablet users surveyed by ON World, up from 9% in 2010.  Smart thermostats were also selected by these early technology adopters as the most likely to result in energy savings for their households.

By 2018, ZigBee and WiFi will make up two-thirds of the global WSN chipset shipments for home and building energy management.

Smart Lighting

Annual revenues for wireless smart lighting in residential and commercial buildings will reach $2 billion in 2017 up from under $300 million in 2012.  Although revenues for commercial buildings will be the largest, residential smart lighting will be the fastest growing over this period. 

Wireless light bulbs are the fastest growing smart lighting segment with retail sales increasing by over 250% over the past year.  Lighting controls are especially popular for younger consumers.  In a recent survey with 1,000+ U.S. consumers, 38% of the respondents aged 18-34 that are interested in home energy management indicated they would likely use lighting controls at home.

ZigBee will be the dominant wireless smart lighting technology over the next five years and make up over half of the WSN shipments for residential and commercial applications at this time. 

Safety & Security

Respondents in ON World’s most recent survey with early technology adopters found that safety is the most valued home service they are interested in, followed by energy management and then security.  Fifty-three percent (53%) of the respondents with a professional security monitoring service indicate they would pay $20 or more per month for a home control and automation service compared with 35% with a cable TV service.  However, the Do-It-Yourself model is preferred and will be the fastest growing over the next five years.

Bluetooth Smart will be the fastest growing smart home WSN technology, increasing by an 85% compound annual growth rate between 2013 and 2018.

Based on surveys and phone interviews with nearly 1,600 individuals across the whole smart building value chain, ON World’s recently published, “Smart Building Set,” covers the global market for wireless sensor networking in smart homes and buildings.  Five-year forecasts are included for equipment, services and chipsets with breakdowns by market segment, application, geography and technology. The technologies included are ZigBee, 802.15.4, WiFi, Bluetooth, Z-Wave, EnOcean and others.

About ON World:
ON World provides global business intelligence on smart technology markets. Our research reports and information services are sold to Fortune 1000 companies, startups and investors worldwide. http://www.onworld.com

Media contact:
Mary Purvis
e: purvis at onworld.com
ph: 858-259-2397

Back to News