Smart homes are becoming more and more popular – and common. If you want to automate your home you’ll want to know how to save on your energy bills, cut down on household expenditure – and protect the environment.
One of the attractions of smart home products is that they can be managed remotely through the use of apps. Automated products can be scheduled to perform certain functions based on your unique requirements and schedule. They can also send alerts about problems before they impact performance – and your life and they can adjust the amount of energy they use based on whether or not someone is at home. Here are some steps that you can take to ensure that your smart devices save you energy.
Smart Thermostats
Heating and cooling your home is more energy intensive than any other function in the home. However, smart thermostats can help to cut down on energy bills. Smart thermostats allow you to both monitor and control the temperature of the home – even when you are not there. However, the most valuable way they can help with energy usage is their ability to automatically set levels of heating and cooling according to requirements. ENERGY STAR smart thermostats are independently certified to provide energy savings. This certification is based on extensive real-world data. Among the pioneering smart thermostats to achieve this certification were NEST, Carrier/Bryant, ecobee and EcoFactor. Each of these products has unique features to help save on energy costs – so it is essential that the homeowner do their research before purchase, but rely on that ENERGY STAR rating. Team this up with a well maintained boiler and you’re golden – check out this from Corgi.
Smart Lighting
ENERGY STAR smart lighting fixtures use approximately 90% less energy than conventional incandescent bulbs – and in addition, can automatically turn off when not required. ENERGY STAR smart lighting saves energy when on and in standby mode – and they last 15 times longer than traditional incandescent bulbs.
Smart Appliances
Smart appliances are becoming ever more popular – and smart appliances with the ENERGY STAR rating save on household energy bills – and have functions that add to the convenience of everyday life. They mean savings – and ‘smart grid’ capability.
Smart Home System
Make everyday life even simpler with the ENERGY STAR ‘Smart Home Energy Management System’. This program interfaces with other smart home systems to make it simpler to manage energy consumption – and simplify your life. An ENERGY STAR Smart Home Energy Management System does have certain minimum requirements, such as an ENERGY STAR smart thermostat, monitor/control plug loads, as well as lighting. But that is only the beginning. The system can also take advantage of ENERGY STAR EV Chargers, appliances – and smart security systems. The system can be customized to fit your lifestyle and unique requirements.
The latest Smart Home Energy Management System from ENERGY STAR helps by:
Simplifying and managing a schedule for your smart devices
Analyzing usage patterns to suggesting energy saving actions
Automatically managing smart home devices based on room or home occupancy