The idea of having Alexa do stuff around the house from the comfort of your warm and cozy couch is very cool, but is it useful, too?
Depending on your point of view. What is certain is that everyone likes to save a few dollars on their electricity bill, especially during the winter.
On the Go Love Tech Blog, we have compiled a list of 8 tips that can help you save energy this winter as well as increase family approval of your home automation project.
1. Keep an eye on energy consumption
"If you can not measure it, you can not improve it"
What good is saving energy if you don’t know where it goes? Every month, the utility bill headlines reveal who the suckers are.
Certain devices have a small footprint but are quite energy-hungry. If you replace them with more energy-efficient models, you can save energy.
What should I do? I have a few options, some fancier than others. I would recommend finding an Energy Monitor. Connect it to the outlet, connect your appliance to it, and watch on the LCD how your money is wasted. Some can even be accessed via the Internet, allowing you to monitor how much you use while you’re away from home. This can be done from your phone or from the comfort of your own laptop, using a mobile hotspot.
The price per kWh can even be customized to make it more realistic. The experience is very educational.
Our latest Gadget recommendations for December 2021
2. How to Control Humidity in the Home
Is that possible? Even though it sounds crazy, humidity levels have a huge impact on comfort at Home and temperature perception.
What does it mean to transform my apartment into a jungle in order to save energy? Humidity levels do not directly affect your HVAC bill, but here are some ways to save money.
- Most places tend to be very dry during the cold season. When the humidity level is high at Home, you can set your thermostat a few degrees below your usual comfort level. 45-55% is a healthy and comfortable level for most people. This does not mean your living room needs to resemble the Amazon Rainforest. The temperature will feel different for everyone, so play around until you find the sweet spot.
- During the summer, the situation is usually the opposite. The air in New York during the hot season feels pretty sticky. Some days, the humidity reaches over 80%. The environment is much more comfortable when the humidity is below 50%.
What should I do?
The values are often kept in check in some AC and Heating systems. However, if that’s not the case, you can implement two solutions:
- Selecting humidifiers and dehumidifiers that sense humidity and keep it within your set range. In the absence of any automation, this solution is ideal.
- Most likely, temperature and humidity are among the values that are currently being monitored if you already have some level of automation implemented.
3. Use smart lights to save energy
Stop reading right now if you are still using incandescent bulbs, and go throw them away immediately.
Why? A mere 10% of the energy they use is converted into light. The rest is released in the form of heat. In addition to consuming more energy, it also generates heat…perfect for the summers in New York.
However, I would guess that the majority of you already use LED or CFL bulbs, so why would you want to switch? Here are some reasons.
- If you have the right automation in place, you can adjust the brightness of the bulbs according to your mood or what you are watching, for example. The majority of the time, all we need is a little bit of light to relax.
- Leaving the house with the lights on or realizing from the bed that you forgot to turn them off is a thing of the past. Everything can be automated or controlled via a smartphone.
4. Keeping the apartment cool with automatically operated blinds
Despite being a bit difficult, this is very useful. What type of blinds you have at Home will determine how you do this.
You have a variety of options for IKEA ones (mostly DIY). Despite its DIY nature, this is a great weekend project if you are up for the challenge.
What are the advantages of automating my blinds?
- When you wake up in the morning, automatically open everything so that you can enjoy the sunlight and heat.
- During the summer, close all the blinds automatically to avoid your house turning into a greenhouse.
All of this can be done by me every morning! Seriously? Not likely.
5. Use a thermostat that is customized to your habits
The benefits of saving energy are obvious. Heating and air conditioning consume up to 40% of the electricity bill.
Take this into consideration. There are some places that don’t have very extreme temperatures, so if this is your situation, then it may not be worth the investment.
Do you know what it is like to live in Siberia? Probably not.
What exactly does this help with?
- Chances are you have a reasonably predictable life unless you're Indiana Jones or work for MI6. Most Smart Thermostats are going to do the job if you have very defined habits.
- Based on the presence of people in the house, a Smart Thermostat can keep the house cold or warm only when they are present.
- On your way home, you can switch it on.
- Using Amazon Echo, you can control it. Interesting? I'm not sure, but it's certainly handy when you don't want to get out of bed.