Benefits of Smart Home Automation
Smart home automation technology has advanced by leaps and bounds in recent years. It’s now reached the point where nearly half of all American houses have at least one type of smart home device and nearly 20% of homes have six or more devices. There’s no doubt that smart home automation provides many different benefits, and this article will explore the benefits you can get with some of the most popular types of smart home technology.
Convenience and Comfort
Many types of smart home automation technology are designed in large part to simply make your life more convenient by allowing you to remotely control various aspects of your home directly from your phone or other mobile device. This includes things like smart lighting, smart blinds, smart door locks, smart thermostats, etc. All of these smart devices can also typically be connected to a smart home hub or virtual assistant so that you can control them using voice commands.
Having smart lighting in your home makes it easy to create the perfect mood for any occasion since you can easily adjust the brightness of your lights or turn certain lights on and off at the push of a button. Smart thermostats are especially useful in terms of your home comfort since the device and app make it easy to ensure your home is always at exactly the right temperature. If you’re curled up on the couch watching a movie and start feeling a bit chilly, you can quickly turn your heating up without needing to get up or even press pause.
Lower Energy Bills
There are also a number of different smart home devices that are great if you’re looking to reduce your monthly energy bills. One of the best options in this regard is a smart thermostat since it can automatically adjust your heating and air conditioning based on a variety of factors so that they use less energy. For instance, the thermostat can collect information from other smart devices like motion sensors and door locks and use it to learn your household’s typical daily routines. It can then adjust the temperature in your home at certain times like when you go to bed and leave for work to make it so that your heating and AC run less. It can also make adjustments as needed based on things like the current temperature outside and whether or not anyone is currently home.
Smart blinds are also a useful option both In terms of temperature control and energy savings. If you want to reduce how much your air conditioning runs in the summer and how much energy it uses, one thing you should always do is close your curtains and blinds during the day. The reason is that keeping your windows covered greatly reduces how much heat gain your home gets from the sun, which helps it to stay cooler during the hottest parts of the day. During the winter, you instead want to keep your window coverings open so that you take advantage of the natural heat from the sun to help your home stay warmer and reduce how much your heating has to run. This is where smart blinds can come in handy since you can use an app to program them so they close in the morning and then open once the sun starts going down. Alternatively, you can just manually open and close them using your phone.
Smart lighting can also reduce your electricity bills since it makes it so that you’ll no longer need to worry about wasting energy by forgetting to turn the lights off when you leave a room or when you leave a house. If you think you may have left any lights on, you can use the connected app to quickly check and turn off any lights that are on.
Another excellent option to consider is installing smart outlets in some of your home’s power receptacles. One issue with many modern electronics like TVs and stereo equipment is that they never fully turn off. Instead, they just go into standby mode when you shut them off and continue to draw a small amount of electricity. Some devices allow you to go into the settings menu and turn the standby mode off, but many others will always stay in standby mode and waste energy unless you actually unplug them from the outlet. This is where plugging those devices into a smart outlet is useful since you can use the app to just shut the power to the outlet off.
Enhanced Home Security
Smart home automation technology can also help to keep your home, family and belongings safer and more secure. Smart door locks and doorbell cameras are two of the most effective options in this regard. Most smart locks automatically lock themselves not long after you shut the door, which means you’ll never need to worry about anyone accidentally forgetting to lock your house up after you leave. You can also just use the keypad to unlock the door, eliminating the need for everyone to carry around a house key that could potentially get lost or stolen.
With a smart video doorbell camera, you’ll receive an alert on your phone whenever anyone approaches your door. You can then watch the video from the camera to check who the person is and even talk to them through the camera to see what they want. That makes it easy to know if someone you don’t know is trying to get inside and to avoid opening the door for anyone you don’t know. Doorbell cameras are also an easy way to deter would-be thieves and keep your packages safe from porch pirates.
Smart window and door sensors are yet another way you can further boost your home security. Through the app, you can set it so that you’ll receive an instant alert if any exterior door or window gets opened during the times when no one is supposed to be home. You can also always check if any doors or windows are open no matter where you are.
Another good option is to have smart motion sensors around your house that will alert you if they detect movement when no one should be home. That way you’ll immediately know if someone has broken in so that you can then call the police. The sensors are also sensitive enough that you won’t need to worry about false alarms since they can easily detect the difference between a person moving around your house and one of your pets.
One last thing to consider is upgrading to a smart garage door opener since it will make your garage much more secure than a standard opener. One reason is that you’ll only be able to open the door using a phone that’s connected to the opener or by punching in the code on the keypad. You can also check if your door is open or receive an alert any time it opens or stays open for more than a certain period of time. If the door is open, you can close it remotely at the push of a button. Many smart openers come with a camera as well so that you can see who is coming and going. If you want to truly ensure any packages you have delivered are safe, you can talk with the delivery person through the camera and then open your garage door so that they can store your packages safely inside your garage.
For the past 35+ years, Brennan Electric has been helping homeowners throughout the Seattle area with all of their electrical needs. We offer expert installation services and can help if you want to install any type of smart home automation technology in your home. No matter what type of electrical service you need, you can trust us to perform quality work at an honest price. If you’re looking to upgrade your home with any type of smart device or need any other service or need an electrical panel replacement, contact us today.
