The term "smart home" seems to turn up in tech circles every so often, only to fade into the background again without much sign of ultra-connected dwellings becoming a reality. Honda's at least putting one foot forward, with a just-unveiled test house in Saitama, Japan featuring a system for controlling and monitoring energy usage. The Honda Smart Home System (HSHS) consists of thin-film solar cell panels, a rechargeable home battery unit, gas and hot water supply systems and the Smart e Mix Manager. The latter is the central part of the energy-control system, and it keeps track of all the other components in addition to monitoring the home's use of power supplied by the grid. In emergency situations, it can also provide electricity via the home battery unit. On the day-to-day level, however, the system is there to let home owners know what sources of power they can kill. Honda also integrates its Japan-only Internavi system for controlling home appliances remotely. The car maker hopes to use the house for extensive demo testing, with an ultimate goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 50 percent. No word on how many decades till we actually call this sort of place home, though. Click on past the break for a look (in Japanese) at the test home's features.

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Honda test house features Smart Home System for controlling energy usage originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 May 2012 19:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.