By making use of flow-based programming paradigms and visual programming, we developed an automation system that is easy to learn and use by people without prior programming knowledge. Automation rules created with our system are represented graphically and modifying rules is as simple as dragging-and-dropping and connecting basic building blocks provided by the system. The system also features a plug-in infrastructure that makes it independent from appliance-vendor-specic protocols used to gather data from sensors or control appliances. Plug-ins can be written by third-party developers to make the system adaptable to every environment that allows access and control via a computer network. It is not tied to a specic appliance manufacturer and can be deployed on all major operating systems and hardware platforms. An informal usability evaluation conducted with the prototype we implemented over the course of the project shows, that our approach to graphical programming is easy to learn by people newly introduced to the concept. People can use the system to easily implement automated behaviour for their smart environments to increase their comfort and safe energy through intelligent, on-demand appliance control.