Home Tech That Saves Energy and Money
Each year, further improvements in energy-saving technology are helping homeowners save some “green” while being good to the planet, too. Stroll into your neighborhood Home Depot, however, and you’ll see that all energy tech is not created equal.
Far too often we’re asked to sacrifice style for sustainability, but Earth-conscious appliances needn’t clash with your home’s overall elegance and functionality.
Here are five trends in home tech that cut energy costs with the grace of a butterfly and the tenacity of a worker bee.
Smart Thermostats
There is nothing particularly “sexy” or new about thermostats, but a smart thermostat in your household is definitely something that can save energy and money without requiring regular maintenance. Thermostats of today, such as Nest, are equipped with advanced sensors and run on algorithms and cloud computing systems for centralized data storage and automated temperature adjustments. This means the thermostat learns and memorizes habits and patterns so it can automatically change the temperature, remember schedules, and adjust according to real-time weather updates. Although a bit steeper than your regular bulky thermostat, it does offer savings of up to 30 percent per year, which means it can pay for itself relatively quick.
Smart Appliances
Home appliance brands are racing to manufacture a fleet of next generation smart appliances, from fridges that monitor your diet to high-speed washing machines that will save you a great deal of laundry time. New smart appliances not only save energy and money, but space as well. Smart appliances are typically slim appliances, which means you can fit more into them into smaller homes and apartments. Newer, more energy-efficient models also trim the fat where consumption itself is concerned see this site for more information thereby helping to pay for themselves when you upgrade. Smart appliances are also less prone to fewer technical issues. ,They come connected to the Internet, and are able to automatically troubleshoot technical problems as they surface, thus minimizing downtime and idle energy consumption.
Power Adapters
Many households will have anywhere between 5 to 20 devices being used at any given time, which means the need for frequent battery recharging and costlier monthly bills. Smart power adapters and battery packs can help cut back your energy bills by up to 13 percent. Although not exactly a significant number, it can add up if your exact dollar cost per month is around $100. Advanced power adapters now cut off the power supply after the device has been fully charged, so you dont have to worry about incurring high “vampire” electricity costs when you leave your device charging overnight.
Heat Pumps
You wont see them at work, but these ultra-efficient heat pump systems can provide substantial energy savings by moving around heat from one space of your household to another as needed. These pumps will run on fuel and is promised to reduce heat consumption by up to 30 percent. Other types of heat pump are available including natural gas pumps and air conditioners, which use ultra low emission combustion burner, and gas heat pumps, which are relatively cheap.
Indoor and Outdoor Lighting
Since its inception, LEDs have come a long way. Youll find many lighting systems today being controlled remotely with custom-made hardware and software, which means lighting is only used when necessary and even brightness settings can be adjusted to use the minimum amount of power required. Solar panel technology is also gradually replacing traditional power sources of households and vehicles, which save an average household in New York City as much as $16,000 over a 20-year leasing contract.
Home technology continues to pave the way for a brighter future, where households can use new technology to empower their energy-spending choices operate with the environment in mind.