A lot of smart home technology (and particularly sensors) use batteries for their power. Batteries are not good for the environment. In the smart home, very few batteries last as long as manufacturer's claim in real-world use.
In our experience many require replacement quite regularly, with some lasting just 4-5 months. Whilst this may not be an issue when you have a few tens of battery powered sensors in your smart home, we have 400+ sensors and devices in our @smartest_home. If they were all battery powered we would typically need to replace more at least one battery every day!
Another issue in the smart home is that many consumer sensors and devices typically use expensive types of batteries to ensure that battery life is as long as possible. In some case, the battery is more expensive than the sensor! This then also means that you need to hold a stock of many different types of spare batteries.
These disadvantages are why we use a hybrid technology smart home solution, utilising mostly wired sensors and minimal wireless sensors. It is also why we use a 12V power network to help reduce the number of batteries used.
One of the smart home building blocks we have developed is a battery eliminator.
