THE GREEN ENERGY BLOG

Home Automation for Energy Efficiency

Home Automation for Energy Efficiency

Remember how cool the Jetsons’ Orbit City apartment was? Everything they needed was
available to them at the push of a button. This may have seemed like a far-fetched
fantasy in the 1960s, but today home automation can turn your ordinary home into a
smart home. What may
surprise you even more is that home automation can actually make your home more
energy efficient.

Home automation regulates the energy
use in your house by only turning things on and off when they are in use. There are
also home automation products that gauge how much electricity an item uses or even
how much electricity your whole household uses. Most power companies offer lower
rates during off-peak hours (like nights and weekends) and these tools can be
utilized to determine how much you are paying at a given time.

Many people are unaware of the fact that appliances and electronics often continue
to draw power even after they have been shut off. This is called “phantom load” and
it can add up to 8% to your electricity bill. To remedy this, there are home
automation products that detect when you have turned an item off and completely cut
power to a device so it stops drawing electricity.

Obviously, automating your entire home can be very costly. So, if you are only able
to automate one aspect of your home, make it the lighting. The International Energy
Agency says that 19% of global electricity generation is taken for lighting. The
cost of producing electricity for the entire world would be reduced by one tenth if
everyone switched to efficient lighting systems. The ideal system would include
compact fluorescent light bulbs and LEDs with an occupancy sensor in each room. The
occupancy sensor will detect when there is no one in a room and automatically turn
the lights off.

Going green by automating your home (whether entirely or just specific items) is a
very easy process and while it can be expensive, the energy you’ll save will help
offset the cost.

Guest Post By:
Richard Moyle
Horizon Window Treatments