Use ‘Smart’ Technology to Control Your Home – Even When You’re Not There
You’d have to be living under a rock not to have noticed how much technology has taken over every aspect of our lives. But technology isn’t just about waiting for the next generation of smart phones and tablets to come out: it can also play a key role in helping you save energy in your home, and ultimately save you money.
Consider adding these ‘smart’ features to your home to make it as energy-efficient as possible, with minimal effort.
Programmable Thermostats
With manual thermostats, you have to physically set the thermostat every time you want to adjust the temperature. While this can work when you’re around, what about when you’re not? What happens when you turn the temperature up before going to bed, but then forget to turn it down before heading off to work?
By installing a programmable thermostat, it’ll be a lot easier to control your heating system, even when you’re not home. These smart devices work automatically: set it once, and it’ll continue to change the temperature according to your settings.
Set it to turn down the heat before bed, then back up in the morning so it’s comfortable when you get up to get ready for work. You can then set it to turn down after you head out, then turn back up just before you get home so you walk into a comfortable home. There’s no sense in heating an empty home – this just wastes energy and your hard-earned cash.
Remote-Controlled Window Shades
Window shade control is another great way to control the temperature in your home, saving you both energy and money. Windows tend to be one of the weakest links in a home when it comes to energy loss.
With remote-controlled blinds, you can control them depending on the time, the sun’s strength and even its position. Android- and iOS-controlled blinds are also available, allowing you to raise and lower them from your mobile phone when you aren’t even home. No matter where you are, you can easily manage your home’s heat and light by adjusting your window shades.
Lighting Control
How many times have you forgotten to turn off a light somewhere in the house, only to realize it’s been on all day or all night, wasting precious energy? Forgetting to flick one simple switch can wreak havoc on your energy bill.
Nowadays, “smart lighting” options are available to homeowners, allowing you to control your lighting from a mobile device or computer. Even dimming your lights can drastically cut down on energy loss. At the touch of a button, you can create ambience while saving energy at the same time by turning on specific lights and dimming them to the desired level.
Centrally Control Your Home’s Energy
You can literally put your home into hibernate mode with some of the technological systems that are available today. Pressing one little button can put your house to sleep, and cut off power to all those energy-sucking gadgets that we tend to forget about.
From computers, to DVD players, to appliances, you can put any power-draining objects on standby. You can even turn off any unused electrical sockets in your home to make it safer for children, then turn them on only when you need them again.
Fiber-Optic Internet Technology
When it comes to energy efficiency, fiber-optic technology is a ‘green’ alternative to typical coaxial copper wires that are used for computers and internet hook-up. It lasts longer, and is even safer to the touch because these cables generate less heat.
Considering the increase in number of smart gadgets in use at the same time in your home, you may have noticed a significant drain on your broadband internet connection. Fiber-optic technology offers faster internet speeds, which means you can have more smart devices in your home working simultaneously with no effect on your online experience.
Technology just keeps getting smarter and smarter. Considering how much more convenient it can be to control many aspects of your home’s energy use and how much money you can save on utility bills, it just makes sense to employ at least one of these smart features.
