There’s no doubt that home automation can make life more convenient, secure, and energy efficient; And this is especially true during the summer months, when energy loads may be at their peak, families go on vacation, and kids may entertain themselves at home alone. During the summer, there are many ways families can benefit from home automation systems, whether you’re interested in saving money energy bills or just keeping your house more secure while you’re trying to catch a break.
Home Automation for Energy Efficiency
Switch off lights, keep your home cool, and utilise only the required energy you need.
- Smart thermostat schedules: With home automation you can set up energy saving schedules to keep your house cool and save money while letting temperatures creep up when you’re not at home. You can even create settings that will turn on air conditioning and lights only during certain times of the day. Or, simply adjust your thermostat settings when you know you’re on your way home or will be gone for a while.
- Remotely turn lights on and off: Forgot to turn on the front porch light and you’ll be home after dark? Simply turn it on with your smart phone. Or, you can check to make sure you’re conserving energy by turning off all of the lights in your home remotely the same way.
- Use activity patterns: Let your smart home help you make better energy decisions with energy monitoring and setting up patterns based on your home’s usual activity.
- Set room usage sensors: Sensors are another great way of controlling energy as they determine when rooms aren’t in use and turn off automatically.
- Remotely turn off appliances: Turn off your TV or gaming console with your smart phone, or set them to turn off automatically after a period of being left idle.
- Monitor water usage and program watering schedules: Conserve water usage by putting your sprinklers on your home automation system. You can program a watering schedule, keep an eye on how much water you’re using, and turn them off if there’s rain.
Home Automation for Vacation Security
Home automation can help you keep your home secure even when you’re not there. Remote alerts, live camera views, automated lights, and virtual keys can make it easy to relax and enjoy peace of mind while you’re on vacation.
- Grant sitters or friends access without an actual key: Instead of leaving a key with your sitter or friend, simply grant them access through a smart code which can later be changed.
- Keep burglars at bay: Even when you are away, make it look like you’re home by turning lights, TV’s, and radios on and off. You can even set up a random schedule, which can fool burglars better than a simple light timer that turns on and off at the same time each day.
- Check for unlocked doors: Feel like you’ve forgotten to lock up? You can use your home automation app to verify whether or not you’ve left any doors open.
- Get a live view of your home: If you want to check on kids, elderly parents or pets, you can simply switch on live camera feeds of your home for reassurance.
- Receive notifications for alarms and movement: Find out right away if there’s a problem at home. You can set your home automation system to give you notifications for water leaks, fire, or burglar alarms so you can get help even when you’re not home.
Home Automation for Convenience
While home automation is especially helpful for energy efficiency and security, we cannot ignore the convenience it offers as well. Whether you want to set up a regular lawn watering schedules, answer your door when you’re not even home or control motorized blinds at sunrise and sunset, a home automation system can help you enjoy the convenient life with a little more relaxation.
