What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the expression: smart home? Do you think it is about a bunch of useless stuff such as controlling the color of the lights from your phone and playing tricks on your family? I mean, everything has its value but if that is your perception of smart homes, then you have been hugely misinformed. A smart home is really all about automating a lot of the daily tasks regarding home maintenance but also about quality of life improvements and some gadgets purely made for fun and entertainment. But the emphasis here is on reducing the amount of overhead you have to worry about when it comes to maintaining your home.
Of course, all of the gadgets that you’ll be using to turn your home into a smart home require electricity and you might be wondering is that going to impact your electricity bill dramatically. The answer is yes and you can easily calculate the amount of electricity all of the devices are going to use throughout the month and if you take the electricity rates in Alberta for example, you will know how much that will cost you. But the impact a well-designed smart home will have on your electricity is it is actually going to lower it by optimizing the way certain appliances are used in your home.
1. Smart Lighting
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. Smart lighting can improve the quality of life in your home and also lower your electricity bill by a small amount. Such a setup is going to make it a lot easier to use only the light that you need and nothing more. It will also give you the opportunity to set the ambient light to reflect on your mood.
2. Smart hubs
There are certain types of smart hubs that you can use to plug in other devices. But they are more than just a power source for these devices. They will give you the ability to control these devices from the palm of your hand. You can easily turn everything off when you leave your home or turn it on before you get home. Just imagine, you don’t remember if the iron is off after you’ve arrived at work. No problem, just turn the hub off from your smartphone.
3. Smart security
When it comes to security, there are tons of options but some of the must-haves are smart smoke detectors and smart sensors. What these devices do is notify you as soon as they detect something so even if you’re out, you will instantly receive a text message and be able to act on it.
4. Smart locks
One of the most overlooked smart systems are modern wifi and bluetooth locks that not only let you access your home’s door with your phone, but they also give you the ability to give a temporary key to anyone else as easily as downloading an app on the phone and accepting an invite.
5. Smart meters
Smart meters are an array of useful devices that tie in to an app on your phone that displays everything you need to know about the home. It can be configured to show you the amount of water, electricity and gas used as well as any other type of sensor or meter in your home.
