Ajith Nair- July 19, 2023 / Updated- October 19, 2023
Smart homes have always had one big “selling point”. And that is you can save energy and really cut back on your bills. Who wouldn’t like that?
But you should know that simply setting up a smart home won’t be enough. This will come down to knowing what each of your devices does–and how you can make the most of it.
Here are 3 things you can do today to minimize energy usage in your smart home.
01. Thermostats come first
And the reason they come first is because heating/cooling systems often account for over 40% of your total energy expense. So straightening things out here will be massive.
One thing you should do is set up a temperature sensor–and program your fans or AC to work accordingly. For example, the fan can be made to automatically run at low speeds if the room temperature is on the cooler side. This way your devices work only as needed and there’s no wasted energy.
02. Smart lights
Much like a thermostat, smart lights help by eliminating wasted energy around the house. Note that you can you either get Wi-Fi LED bulbs that can be controlled with an app–or install retrofit modules to automate the switchboard.
Now there are three things you can do here. At the very least, you can check your phone to make sure there’s no light accidentally left on. And if you’ve installed a dimmer module, you can save electricity by dimming down any extra brightness. Now if you’ve got a motion sensor–you can pair it with your lights using a smart hub. This allows you to program the lights to automatically turn on when someone’s around–and turn off when one leaves.
These little things may end up saving you a significant amount of energy every year.
03. Get smart plugs
This is probably the easiest way to a smart home. This means it’s also the easiest way for you to start saving energy. A smart plug basically lets you automate any plugged-in device–and this opens up a wide range of options.
For one, you can schedule your devices to run precisely as needed. For instance–if you’ve got a geyser plugged into a smart plug, it can be scheduled to heat your water by the time you wake up and automatically turn off. Not only does this save your time, it also eliminates any wasted energy.
But the biggest trump of a smart plug is its ability to reduce standby drain. If you didn’t know–every one of your plugged-in devices constantly saps power even when turned off. And this often torrents up to quite an amount every year. But when you use a smart plug to turn off an appliance, it shuts it off completely–thus eliminating idle drain.
Remember that your smart home will be as smart as you want it to be. While we mentioned the 3 big ways to save energy, there can be several ways to cut back on the bills in your smart home. Get started with a smart plug and explore away!
Yabby Solutions
Yabby is a premium solutions provider in the smart electrical and electronics products segment; registered in Bengaluru, India.
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