1. Home
Automation
Concept paper
BENARD NGODA
ANTONY MUREITHI
GEORGE MUENDA

2. INTRODUCTION
 On Average many Power consumers witness huge electric bills on their systems /homesteads or industries .Many systems have
however been made to liberate on power rationing in order to cut down on costs, but recently we encountered high costing in terms
of electricity bills which could not be explained, thus we came up with this unique idea to overcome all these challenges.
 This project on estimation saves 40% daily energy consumption in an average homestead consumption . If this project is sufficiently
funded ,we target to save lots of energy in Kenya as well as Investors abroad ,since this project works on remote control basis where
by ,when once installed ,this system automatically takes note of power consumption withing ones homestead or industry,checks in for
best and worst performance in terms of electric power consumption.The good thing oabout our system is that ,it makes use of modern
technologies like IOT(Internet Of Things) and sensor actuators .All these components play a major role in ensuring that our sytem is
realitime and reduced inefficiencies during power consumption monitoring and assessment.
 Home Automation is one of the millennium development goal scopes to realize more clean,reliable and efficient power saving,over
the past years we have had so much plastic material being manufactured to house electrical power monitor sytems,sometimes usually
resulted in deforestation ,all these are environmental hazards.With our system ,very less ,cheap and affordable components are
utilized,housed by a users preference which can work remotely independent of where the user is.
 These very crucial reasons made my Team mates, George Mwenda, Antonnie Mureithi to join hands and help propel the original idea
into action.

3. PURPOSE
 The main scope for our project is to see many Kenyans and other countries save huge amounts of wasted energy through repeated
bad habits .We do this by introducing technology and making a self sustaining system to self monitor power consumption and
regulate itself based on a given bad habit. Taking into consideration ,with the increased economy and technology ,our World
today is undergoing economic stagnation and one of the main reasons for a country or a nation to seize development is costly
living standards ,which energy consumption play a major role. Insignificant costs are incurred by house hold users who at times
don't understand there electric power consumption within there houses.T his project when once implemented will ensure an
interactive interface via a mobile app ,which gives a summary of consumption of power by each individual element within the
system,This comes with a predictive analysis where the system can be able to predict to the users an accurate amount of money
they would have incurred if they uses different components frequently within the house, this practice not only saves on enery but
saves this persons money which play a key role in building a nations economy.
 Previously energy mechanisms to help save energy have been quite expensive, and ineffective like power rationing which act as a
barrier to online and real-time power requirement cases. With Home automation system, real-time power is never as well as
power rationing is achieved in the best way. More important resources are allocated power before the more consuming gadgets
within the electrical system.
 This projects has many diverse advantages, yet saving on costs and enhancing efficiency, thus should be supported and put into
action. Not only in Kenya but the World as a whole should embrace this technology.

4. CASE STUDY IN KENYA
Here is an example of a real Kenyan Study Case that prompted us to come up with this idea:
John is a father of three and has a wife too. As a teacher John wakes up very early in the morning and leaves for school,his wife is a freelancer ,so she spends most
of her time at Home working for clients online.Their children are teens and so most of the times they are found listening to very loud music in their house.
While his children are away for the new semester,John receives an electric bill of Ksh 5000,which at times he feels is not a fair amount for a single homestead,While
the Kids are back from School,John receives a monthly electric bill of Ksh 7000 ,which he equally doesn't understand how the power consumption happens within
the house. So he ends up blaming his Children for listening to loud music within the house all the times,at some point he is forced to exile them to their Aunts place .
John has been facing the same problem for 7years now,but does not understand who to blame,his wife on the other side,lights on the coil and heater for an evening
coffee and for warmth,this wasnt part of Johns reasoning.John has been paying (7*12*(5000+7000)/2) =Ksh 504000,this was for sure a huge amount for a single
house hold.
This was our first case study to encounter with huge ,unaccountable electrical bills for a single homestead,taking into consideration ,not every individual does an
electrical related course,so many end up accepting the huge bills impossed.

5. REVIEW OF JOHNS CASE WITH OUR PROJECT
Having done a lot of feasibility tests on Johns homestead,we came to understand that::
 John could not identify the exact course of high electric bills.
 Too many irrelevant components were connected to the electric system .
 Too much assumptions were made to cover up for the huge power consumption(i.e Assuming Loud music caused majority of power loss) .
 Johns houses doesn't have enough time to have direct contact with electrical gadgets switching and monitor, i.e His wife spends most of her time on her
computer than the actual house,thus so many components such as lights ,coils and TV are left idle with no one to to switch them off when not in need.
 With implementation of our system,John was able to know and understand that coils,heater were the most consuming,Tv sets and Loud music were the less
consuming within the house,so the first step our system suggested was that he reduce idle time for coil and heater on-line and he was able to save up to 40% of
energy consumption in his house.

6. PROJECT DESCRIPTION
 Home Automation project uses Internet Of Things Technology to maps different electrical components to an electrical system
,monitoring its energy consumption and regulating them incase of over consumption. This project has also added features like
studying the users habits like movement, idle and much more, this helps utilize gadgets when needed and disables them when not in
use. With this feature,energy consumption by either power,solar or Hydro electric power can be concatinated in a better and efficient
manner ,especially for hybrid power genration systems without having breakages or losses.
 It uses different sensors to control and relay signals to power sources and consumption points, thus not susceptible to resistance and
line drops .
 Project also draws most of its informed decisions from the prevailing environmental conditions like light, to control security lights
,switching them when necessary .
 This idea uses cloud computing to analyse most of its data ,so most probably giving informed decisions through predictive analysis and
machine learning technologies.

7. WORKING MODEL
Home Automation is made up of a very simple setup that can be included in any electrical system.I t is made up of one major core micro-controller
called (esp8266) which is a small chip through which instructions are saved into. The instructions direct the module on how to take control of power
flow within an electric system in a house or an industrial setup. This board readily takes information to and from actuators ,giving it a more versatile
characteristic that made us to be more interested to use it within our project. Other boards are available like (Rasp Berry Pi) but they have there own
limitations like the cost and implementation strategy.
Sensors are also attached within our project to help us monitor a users behavior when it comes to energy consumption,these sensors are well based
on a crucial research. They are superfluous when it comes to physical,or biological attack to living organisms. More finer details are as per the rules
constrained towards the development of the project and future implementations.

8. Goals and Objectives
 Goals
• Maximize on Technology to ensure Minimum power consumption .
• Create a self sustaining system that ensures maximum savings in power to cut down on costs incurred.
• Go in line with Sustainable Development Goals to achieve the best practices ,utilizing clean ways to save energy.
 Objectives
• To Cover most parts of the country ,leveraging on class stratification but maximizing on energy savings.
• Manufacture simplest models of our systems to fit dynamic needs of people

9. Overview of Project Methodology
 Our approach towards the plan of this projects in based on top-down strategy which include different dates for our first feasibility
test for users.
• October 10: Identity of suitable area for implementation.
• October 28:Assembly of Kit and necessary installments.
• November 14:Wiring and mapping our gadget based on users system and ensuring compatibility of the two.
• November 28:Survey of every component ,system response to users practices.
• December 30:Conduct surveys to identify bugs ,and and user preferences.

10. Current Status on a Kenyan Model
One of our major tests
highlighted on Johns case
stated earlier on this
document.

11. IMPACT OF THE PROJECT TO CONSUMERS /TARGET MARKET
As mentioned within this document,this project has so many diverse advantages to the end consumers.
Consumers:
1.Lots of energy savings
2.Guaranteed real-time power monitor control system.
3.Key advice on best practices based on self study routines based on ones case study.
4.Very cheap gadget hence saving on costs.
5.Device can be plugged into an already working system ,thus no much time required for permanent replacement.

12. Financial Analysis Projections
Description of Expenses Amount Description of Revenue Amount
2 Esp. 8266 board 1400Ksh
Arduino Board 2000Ksh
2 Relay (Min 8 Module) 2000Ksh
2 Breadboard 500Ksh
3 Photo resistor 250Ksh
PIR Sensor 200Ksh
Portable Router 5000Ksh
GSM module 300Ksh
Total Expenses 11650