Smart technologies: digital solutions for an energy-saving present and future

Driving towards a high-tech future, digital technologies contribute to the expansion of economic opportunities, increasing the level of social well-being and environmental protection. The appliance of digital technologies as tools to improve energy efficiency for all economic sectors is aimed at solving the major objectives of sustainable development. Alternative energy production is rapidly gaining popularity around the world and is becoming the preferred source of energy supply for consumers. The effective application of digital technologies to stimulate production and supply growth in demand in developed and developing countries ensures the competitiveness of alternative energy sources. As Tajikistan is a country with rich hydropower resources, around 96% of electricity in the country is generated by hydroelectric power plants. In terms of hydropower potential per capita (87,800 kWh per year/person), Tajikistan shares the first two places in this indicator with Norway, and has the potential to serve the wider region. However, there is a lack of digital technologies, and modern techniques need to be introduced to adequately respond to the needs and consider negative trends in climate warming. Thus, these risks require a search for more effective technologies for the development of the country’s energy sector. The smart home concept takes a special role in applying the capability for increasing the efficiency of energy resources’ use and energy saving. The smart home concept entails the most outstanding idea for effective house space formation through digitalization. This article presents research results on an autonomous intelligent system within a residential building based on the use of digital and intelligent technologies. The trends in the development of the intelligent smart home system and the barriers that slow the development of this market are identified based on global experience. This integrated automatization project for autonomous homes is developed based on KNX digital and intellectual technologies. The solutions proposed in this article are verified by calculations of economic efficiency and can be recommended for further practical use.