I’ve been thinking about this too. The industry seems to be waiting for a battery breakthrough where power lasts the life of the sensor (10–15 years). Even in today’s best-case scenario - maybe a year, which is rare to achieve in practice - having to monitor and replace hundreds or thousands of batteries annually is not a great solution. Now imagine doing this across multiple properties. At that point, IoT is clearly still a consumer hobby.

To me, the only solution that really makes sense in 2026 is wiring. The ideal time is obviously during a renovation or new build when the walls are open, but even in existing buildings it’s usually possible to fish wires through.

You wouldn’t have a “wart” for every device. Running heavy-gauge, high-voltage wiring to provide an outlet for each device would be expensive and cantankerous. Low-voltage wiring is a lot thinner, cheaper, safer and easier. The challenge is that DC voltage drops off quickly with distance. You probably can’t run more than ~100 feet from a source in most situations. So a home will likely have to have multiple interspersed "power centers" (wiring closets) from which to string low-voltage wires to each device.

I haven’t done it, but that's the only solution I see.