Can home automation reduce your power bill
With the impressive concept of complete home automation being presented through movies like Iron Man, the focus usually lies in what can you truly automate in your home. Realistically, smart automation can be applied to almost every electronic device in your home so long as it is considered as smart technology.
“Smart technology” stands for self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology which is able to automatically adapt and modify behaviour to suit any given environment. And with advancements in technology hitting an all-time high, the home automation revolution is only a stone throw away.
The different features of a smart home may include automatic lighting, automatic door locks, smart security cameras, automatic blinds, automatic heating and cooling, as well as automatic technology such as your TV and other technological gadgets.
With the major emphasis being placed on the “wow” factor of home automation, what many people seem not to realise is that one of the major benefits of home automation is in the reduction of your power bills.
In order to have a smart home that is energy efficient, an energy reduction strategy plan has to be in place when designing the smart home. With Victorian households being subjected to an increase in energy market offers in 2016, as reported by the Victorian Energy Market Report 2015-2016, the need to cut energy costs is evident.
By simply implementing a solid energy reduction strategy integrated into a smart home, homeowners are able to reduce both their carbon footprint and their energy bills. The question as to how much can be saved on energy bills varies on a case by case basis as all smart homes operate differently with consumption levels being different as well.
The major points of saving energy in a smart home include the heating, ventilation and cooling system through the use of accurate sensors and timers that regulate your home’s climate in an efficient manner. Other factors include lightings with dimmable controls comprising of an output level below a 100% allowing savings at every instance of use and standby appliances such as TVs, hair dryers, and microwaves that have power strips to cut-off energy supply when in standby mode.
The need to understand the working capacity of an automated home system is necessary in order to understand your saving potential. In some cases, an energy-saving home automation plan may even outweigh the installation costs in as little as a couple of years. In other cases, there have been reports of savings reaching as high as 57% on the energy usage.
A good energy saving strategy should include sophisticated analysis and auditing to identify a household’s energy hot spots. This then allows the tailoring of a specific energy management plan in accordance with the smart home’s needs.
Once implemented, monitoring of the in-place solutions is mandatory in order to ensure maximum savings and efficiency is delivered to the homeowner. As a typical point of reference, homeowners often report seeing immediate savings on their energy bills which amplifies the apparent saving potential of integrating a smart home.
