PRE2016 3 Groep14

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Group members

• Jeffrey Baijens
• Margot Emke
• Jari van Ewijk
• Marjolijn Kleijer
• Bram Lustenhouwer
• Wouter Wolthuis

Our goal

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More information

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Even more information

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Introduction

According to the Global Health and Aging report, by the World Health Organization (WHO), the world population is growing and the age composition of the world population is changing over the years. This causes an increase in the amount of elderly, which can be seen in Figure 1. The increase is mainly caused by the “baby boom” between the years 1946 and 1964 in combination with the rising life expectancy within the older population itself.

FIGUUR TOEVOEGEN!

With the population ageing, there are expected challenges to our health care system. Future shortages of healthcare workers and lack of the diversity of their professions is likely. To be able to manage the increasing demand for healthcare, new models of care will be required. One of the possible solutions is a smart home.

Advantages and disadvantages

With smart home technology, there are a lot of advantages and disadvantages. underneath, the most important advantaged and disadvantages are mentioned.

advantages:

• The whole system inside your house can be managed from one place. This can be your phone or a tablet. This has a advantage for elderly who are not able to run certain task by individually, but are now able to run everything through an app on their phone. [1] [2]

• Smart home technologies will increase the security of a household. The app can alert the owner when there is a burglary, can call the police immediately or the fire department when there is a fire. Also, it can unlock doors and light a path with the shortest escape route when the residents need to leave the house as soon as possible. [1]

• There is an increase in energy efficiency. A smart home can shut down appliances that are running but not needed at that time. For example, it can shut off light in a room where nobody is in. Also heating costs will decrease, as the owner can control the heating system when at work. Research has shown that the energy bills are decreased with 30%. [1] [2] [3]

• For elderly, smart home technologies will improve the quality of life. A smart home can remind the owner when to take his medicine or can remind the owner where some stuff is stored when it is lost. All of this can be run with voice command, so that the owner can do everything himself inside his house. most importantly, a smart home system can alert family members and the hospital when the health of the owner is at stake. This can for example hold when the owner fell and cannot get up, or the heart rate of the owner is decreasing.[1] [2] [3]

Disadvantages:

• It is difficult to find a audience for this system, as smart home technologies require some acknowledgement in technology. Especially for the elderly, this can be one of the most important reasons not to implement smart home technologies in their houses. [4] [5]
• Smart home technologies are really expansive. This means that this technology will only be able for the higher class of society. [5] [6]
• When everything in a house is connected to the internet, the privacy of the owner will decrease. Also the system can be hacked by a thief in which it is easier to perform a robbery. People will be skeptic about this fact and therefore will not buy the smart home technology. [5] [6]