Our house in New Jersey has these automatic locks by Lockly that lock automatically when the door closes. However, the net impact of these locks on human behavior is such that humans who find that the door locks behind them perceive the locks as a nuisance. Therefore, they either disable the lock or leave the door open. Leaving the door open in a home with a large-footprint open floor plan home rapidly changes the interior temperature. More traditional and pragmatic floor plans have constructed a foyer or mud room as a temperature barrier between the main living space and the entrance.

In the national conversation about home energy efficiency, locks and human interactions based on replaceable and disposable “amenities” such as locks are rarely discussed as they seem in-material to energy efficiency. However, humans interact with the internet of things (that these locks are a part of) and do create habits which impact energy consumption.

More discussed are architectural design choices in homes. But the long term impacts of not having a middle space and temperature barrier within the structure seems to be a gross oversight that many consumers and mass-home-builders don’t think about. It is something which should be brought back into the common design of newly built homes.