Smart homes are becoming ever more popular. People are dazzled by the fantastic things you can achieve with just the tap of a screen or the push of a button. Whether you use your system to set the mood with smart lighting or listen to your favourite tunes in the bath with multi-room audio; most of the marketing behind smart homes centres on convenience, gadgetry and just being down right cool.
Much more than a gimmick
The capabilities of Control4 are almost endless and can help you to actually manage most aspects of your household. From the intuitive user interface you can control locks, view CCTV cameras, organise playlists as well as operate blinds and heating – the list goes on. You can even help to run your house more energy efficiently.
Energy use
In the UK, the average dual fuel energy bill is £1,254 per year (Ofgem,2019) which is nearly 5% of the average UK household budget. While we don’t have the research to support it, we would wager that the average energy bill for a smart home would be considerably less.
Many homes in the UK still use old fashioned thermostats with programmable timers for their heating and hot water. They set the timer and usually don’t touch it for 6 months until the weather changes and they need the heating to come on more often or their hot water to come on earlier.
Some people will even leave their heating and hot water timer while they are away on holiday and so end up heating an empty house. What about leaving lights on accidentally? How many times have you arrived home to realise the landing light is still on. These are things we can control but are often inconvenient to change regularly.
Getting Smart with Energy
Thermostats are no longer the device that no one is allowed to touch. New smart thermostats can automatically learn the homeowner’s routines, are easily programmable and can be fully personalised. You can adjust temperatures and timers for your heating and hot water remotely. So, if you’re going to be home late there’s no need to heat an empty house and you can conserve that energy.
Smart thermostats can also be linked to other smart features and monitor the temperatures in your home, it can activate things like blinds, curtains or drapes to protect your living space from the heat of direct sunlight.
With intelligent lighting systems you can access your Control4 panel remotely to make sure you haven’t left any lights on while you are out or away. You can even programme your lighting system to mimic your daily routine in order to deter intruders while you are away. You can also programme your lighting to dim at certain points in the day to conserve energy.
The “turn off house” function is one of the most popular. Fully customisable you can make sure any lights, televisions or electrical equipment shuts down when you leave the house. No more running round the house to check – this is especially useful if you have children.
Ultimately smart homes are there to make your life more convenient with the added bonus of being more energy efficient which not only benefits your bank balance but also the planet. We should be doing everything we can to look after our environment and not heating empty houses, lighting empty rooms or generally wasting energy is something that we can all do to help.
Get in Touch
If you would like to speak to a member of our expert team about getting smart, make sure you call us on 0345 505 1760 or email us. You can even follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram or connect with us on LinkedIn.
