Smart grids in South Korea help the country use more renewable energy sources and cut overall energy consumption." The "smart" in a grid is achieved through an installed software rather than hardware, banking more on the element of intelligence for more consistent upgrades, patterns learning, and timely response to new technologies. The South Korean smart grids include the following components: Internet in South Korea is more robust and developed than in almost any other country, with gigabit wired service being common even in fairly rural areas. Accordingly, Korean initiatives in smart grid and Internet of things largely take reliable backhaul connectivity for granted. The country's
Home automation also be accessible off-site through the Internet. While there are many competing vendors, there are very few worldwide accepted industry standards and the smart home space is heavily fragmented. Manufacturers often prevent independent implementations by withholding documentation and by litigation. The home automation market was worth US$5.77 billion in 2013, predicted to reach a market value of US$12.81 billion by the year 2020. Early home automation began with labour-saving machines. Self-contained electric or gas powered home appliances became viable in the 1900s with the introduction of electric power distribution and led to the introduction of washing machines (1904), water heaters