While we may be getting more conscious about how we are using utilities, it hasn’t stopped large amounts of energy waste. We’ve all received the bill and wondered how and when we used as much energy as we did.
Fortunately, through advances in technology, there are now products that help save you money and help save the environment. This technology, known as smart home tech, does all the work for you: regulating your heating and cooling, monitoring water usage, shutting off lights, and so much more.
Heating and Cooling
Smart Thermostat: Smart thermostats are one of the most popular home automation tools to save money. With the high costs of heating and cooling, having a tool that can regulate temperatures when you’re at work, on vacation, or asleep can save some serious cash. By constantly adjusting temperatures based around your schedule and being highly programmable, smart thermostats help save you money by not heating or cooling empty spaces. Most are compatible with home automation assistants such as Amazon Echo and Google Home, among others.
Motorized Shades: Often one of the most overlooked ways of saving money are motorized shades that allow you to remotely close and open your shades to adjust to the weather. You can also schedule times for when you want them to automatically open or close, which can help to keep out the sun during certain times of the day. Most of the time, all of this programming can be done using an app on your phone! By keeping the sun out when it’s hot or letting it in when it’s cold, you save money on heating and cooling costs through the natural temperature differences. If motorized shades sound a bit complex, you can also switch to honeycomb shades, which are specifically designed for insulation. Regardless of your choice, any shade or drape with the right design can help cut heating costs.
Average Savings: Between $131 and $145 per year
Light Use
Smart Lights: Smart lights are becoming more prevalent among smart homes based on their ease of use. Through programming and remote access, you can turn lights off or on when you’re not home, which can also help for home security. Additionally, these smart lights use LEDs, which cost significantly less to run than traditional incandescent bulbs, as well as being brighter.
Average Savings: Between $80 and $120 per year
Laundry
Energy-efficient washers: Though there aren’t “smart tech” washers per sé, energy-efficient washers that are ENERGY STAR certified can save you a lot of money on water and electricity bills. Additionally, if you wash your clothes in cold water, you’ll save even more! ENERGY STAR washing machines use around 25% less electricity than typical non-efficient washers
Average Savings: Between $75 and $125 per year
Showers and Faucets
High-efficiency faucet aerator: Aerators add air to your water, which can cut your water consumption in half. Additionally, since they add air, you won’t lose water pressure. Score!
Smart home water meter: Smart home water meters help you monitor water usage around the house. You can know what areas use the most water and develop a better understanding of how you can cut back on water usage in those areas, which can lead to a large amount of savings.
Average Savings: About $100 per year
Toilets
Smart toilets: Aside from just helping you save water, smart toilets also help to get rid of toilet paper waste. According to the EPA, toilets with WaterSense labels can cut down water usage by 20-60% and save around 13,000 gallons of water per year.
Average Savings: About $100 per year
Smart Tech in Real Estate
Aside from the benefit for you, adding smart home technology helps push the world to be more efficient and sustainable. The technology is becoming so popular that real estate companies, such as Redfin, are adding green home filters due to high demand for green homes. This means that not only will smart home tech help to save the environment but it will also help you when it comes time to sell your home.
By Tyler Haugen | Redfin