Smart Housing for Reducing Energy Use in Single-Households, Emphasizing Effective Energy Management

Single-households, one of the new housing types to emerge recently, seem to experience difficulties in the management of energy use due to the short duration of their residence. However, there has been little study on effective energy management in singlehouseholds. If we can find solutions that reduce energy consumption through effective management, the total energy consumption across this housing type could be decreased, even though the reduction in energy use per single-household may be small. The main purpose of the research is to provide appropriate solutions for the effective management of energy use for single-households by applying smart technologies. For the implementation of smart housing, primarily we identified single-households’ patterns of electricity use through our investigation. We categorized six representative types of singlehouseholds based on the results of a questionnaire survey, and extracted the patterns of electricity use in each type of single-household through interviews. Based on the results, smart housing solutions for single-households would be provided by emphasizing the effective management of electricity use. By maximizing smart spaces in single-households, sustainable and healthy housing would be realized in terms of energy saving. Further, this research would be a basis for enhancing the quality of housing environments for single-households.