Are Americans excessive, compulsive control freaks or just citizens looking to benefit from wirelessness?

A new survey says it's the latter -- 72 percent of Americans want to monitor their home when they are gone.

Safety and security are the primary reasons, with most wanting to monitor who is in the house, especially kids who need to arrive home from school safely.

An obviously self-serving Z-Wave Alliance survey of 1,000 Americans does, however, point to a growing demand for home monitoring and control.

In addition to home security, many Americans also want technology to help them conserve energy, increase their comfort and, well, make life a little more conducive to quality time away from home.

"We're still in the very early stage of wireless home control and there is a growing desire for Americans to be able to monitor and control their home remotely," said Mike Einstein, marketing chair for the Z-Wave Alliance.

"The challenge is that consumers still feel that home automation is a far-away concept that is only affordable to the very wealthy," he added.

But instead of wiring the home with artificial intelligence, consumers are more interested in addressing specific concerns, the survey reveals.

The survey found:

• Nearly two out of five Americans find themselves wondering if they've left an appliance on or a door unlocked at least some of the time. (Even if they've already checked those items five times before leaving.) If they could remotely lock the door the pressure would ease, the survey said.

• As evidenced by those who schlep laptops and other gear on vacation so they remain connected to that from which they hoped to escape, more than half of all Americans would be able to relax on vacation if they were able to control things like their lights, home alarm system or appliances from anywhere in the world.

• Nearly half of all Americans would like to be able to know more about who is in their home when they are not. Kids throwing wild parties, infidelity, and kitty clawing the couch, come to mind.

• Americans spend more than 24 hours every year turning off appliances and shutting down their homes before bed, which, over the course of the average American lifespan, is more than 77 days of life spent at the controls. Automation could give some of those days back, if only to configure the automatic controls.

• More than 1.5 million adult Americans worry that they are not as efficient as humanly possible when it comes to conserving energy by turning off lights, heat, air conditioning and other appliances. Again, automation, would help lower both energy bills and blood pressure.

• If however, they have a choice, spying on kids is preferred over remotely keeping out the bears. The survey said parents are more than four times as likely to want the ability to remotely see if their children came home from school than to be able to remotely control their home security system and keep Goldilocks at bay.

Published: January 30, 2007

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A journalist for 35-years, Broderick Perkins parlayed an old-school daily newspaper career into a digital news service offering editorial content and consulting services. Perkins' San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group includes the flagship news site, DeadlineNews.Com, offering real estate, personal finance and consumer journalism, and a backshop, the Deadline Newsroom.