I am certain that you are curious to know whether “smart home saves money” has brought you to this article from Google search. Well, you are in the right place! I am going to be digging deep into numbers and provide you with evidence whether or not smart home automation saves you money or not! Read below to find out. We would be looking into hard facts and get your pen and paper ready to save them for your future references.
There are loads of articles on the internet about whether a smart home saves you money or not. This article is slightly different than the other since no one across the internet has given numbers to back their research and claims. I have personally gone ahead of the game and going to provide you with the personal savings that I have incurred due to the implementation of my smart home concept. But frankly, I do not want you to take my word for it. And since it is always a big question in everyone’s mind, I wanted to make your search as simple as it could be by writing an in a detailed article on this subject.
I by no means claim that the numbers that I have seen personally are going to reflect the same in your smart home journey too. But giving you an average would undoubtedly make you understand as to what kind of potential cost savings you could do once you embark on this journey. I strongly recommend that whenever you want to buy your next smart device, always hop onto the manufacturer’s website and read reviews by authentic buyers of that particular product on Amazon. This would give you a holistic view on what you are about to buy and what are other people facing issues with or how that particular product has benefitted them.
So here goes!
Table of Contents
Massive improvement in energy consumption
A smart home is, in reality, an investment. And to be honest, this doesn’t come cheap. Under no way, you can expect to save a million dollars just by thinking that you have a smart home setup. This is not what the intent of a smart home is, and it would never be either.
In the late 2015’s, it was reported that on average; a smart homeowner ended up saving 10% on their total utility bills. So now it’s time to do the maths. If your utility bill comes to around $10,000 per year, you can easily then save $1,000 from that bills just because you had deployed smart home technology to take care of stuff that otherwise would ramp up the bill to a $10,000. That for me is a massive saving, and I can utilise that cash and invest it somewhere or even better, buy my wife that beautiful ring she wants!
Apart from all the cost-savings coefficients that the smart home brings onto the table, let us not forget that each smart home is equipped with energy-efficient protocols that ensure to bring in a unique form of renewable energy. This indeed is a massive factor of deploying smart home automation.
In short, smart home automation is about improving the way you receive and use the energy at home. It is definitely not going to help you save millions of dollars but is definitely a deal-breaker when it comes down to deploying a dumb device against a smart alternative. Home automation is bound to improve your living standards and in return, reduce your bills and energy consumption by far. And it is a crucial factor in energy-efficient living. This is precisely what our world needs right now and embarking on converting your dumb home into a smart version is the way to go!
8 Ways Smart Homes Can Save You Money
A recent study shows that approximately 477 million smart home devices will be bought and used globally in 2020. The projection of the home automation market in 2020, is projected to hit a whopping $79 billion.
Home automation, however, doesn’t come cheap. It requires you to spend a pretty penny, but then again; the smart home concept is an investment, to begin with. And that investment tends to pay back over time. You can’t expect to have thousands saved in a matter of days or weeks. It’s a year’s game!
So, before you decide if the investment required in a smart home is for you, here are 8 ways smart homes can save you money!
Detection of Carbon Monoxide & Smoke Detection
400 people die in the USA alone, every year; due to carbon monoxide poisoning. On the other hand, smart home gadgets allow you to sync between carbon monoxide and smoke detectors. If anyone of the smart detectors built into your home detects the presence of carbon monoxide or smoke, it immediately raises the alarm and sound from all the sensors installed in your home. Irrespective of where you are in the house at that particular moment, you are bound to hear the sound of the alarms and act accordingly.
Almost all of the smart smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are capable of being integrated with your local fire department. In worst-case scenarios, where there is a breach of gas or fumes; the smart sensors immediately send an alert to the fire department in your area. And in case, you are not at home; you can also get alerted via notifications sent directly to your smartphone via in-app notifications or sometimes even a direct SMS (if the service is configured onto your smart detectors).
You can very easily find out if the batteries on any of your detectors are running out by the help of the app that comes along with these smart detectors. Gone are the days when smoke detectors were required to be disassembled and then have their batteries replaced with those standard cells. Sometimes one would forget to change the battery, and this would wreak havoc in case of a smoke or carbon monoxide emission.
The price range of such devices is in between $32 – $175
Water Damage Alerts
I used to be worried about any possible water leaks that could flood my house when I am out with the family on vacation. Well, with the home automation put into action this is no more trouble. I can’t tell you how many times I had to ask my wife if there was an open faucet or updates if the plumber came to fix the pipes.
With smart home automation, you can easily connect the water pipes to the smart system; and then whenever there is a leak the water will shut off immediately thus preventing you from a flooded house on your return. Thus saving you thousands in those expensive repairs otherwise! At an average, the water repair costs the homeowners a whopping sum of $2,600 per repair. Therefore it is vital to have smart home automation connected to your water pipes and thus in case of a disaster, the damage can be mitigated if not completely avoided. Nowadays, technology is so very sophisticated that you could also be alerted by the smart gadgets once there is a water leak. There and then you can take the decision to either keep the water supply cut off entirely or just alert your local plumber and your friend to visit your place and have the issue fixed.
Having the ability to automate your water lines prevent your house from water damage, this particular one is definitely a money-saving perk of the whole smart home automation.
Preventions from Break-Ins
A study claims that 75% of the people who wanted to embark on the home automation journey made up their mind primarily to keep themselves, their families and their house’s secure. With over 1 million home invasions reported each year that result in cumulative damage of $2,000 per break-in; having a smart home security system is the only way forward. These types of systems not only keep you secure but also your house.
Smart home security systems connect seamlessly with your Wi-Fi or any other means through which you can provide an active internet connection to them; and thus can be controlled remotely. You can virtually control your security system remotely with the help of the smartphone app or the software that came along with it in your laptops, from anywhere in the world. If you are in the habit of forgetting to lock your main or the patio door; you can use the app to close it remotely. Forget always to shut your garage door? Worry not, you can do so remotely via the app. The possibilities are countless, and the benefits it brings to the table are numerous!
You can very well configure your smart home security system to act in a pre-defined way. For example, you can set up schedules in the system to trigger an alarm if the motion detection that is built-in into the cameras detects a foreign object that is not possible to be there in your absence. Such alerts get sent automatically to your smartphone app, thus alerting you to act accordingly.
You also have the privilege to arm and disarm your home security system remotely with the help of the app when you know that in your absence, you are going to let someone in to stay for a particular period.
Porch Pirate Notifications
We all find it very comfortable and unique to buy whatever he wants from the internet. This trend has taken the world by a storm, and you can see more and more people resorting to online buying instead of driving down to their high-street shops and centres. Given this, almost 79% of Americans prefer to shop online, and the trend is increasing day by day.
Unfortunately, with the increase in the trend of online shipping, there is definitely an increase in porch pirates that has been noticed over the past years. And this is an ever-growing concern. What are porch pirates you may ask? These are people that go house to house and lift the parcels that are delivered to their doorsteps. They haunt the porches of the people, and whenever the delivery man keeps the box and walks away, they just jump in and steal the parcel. You would be shocked to know that almost 23 million people have had their packages stolen right from their very own porches at home.
The only solution to this problem is the Smart Door Bells. These if paired with a smart security camera easily allows you to monitor who is at your doorstep. You can also give your delivery company a dedicated pin code that they can use to pop up the door and keep your parcel in your house when you are not in. Ensure to sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) with the delivery company and enforce that it gets exercised so that they entry-pin to these smart doorbells and smart door locks aren’t violated or abused. Once the delivery of your parcel is done, you can then just change the code. You can also set up a one-time code on your smart doorbells or smart door locks that would auto-exhaust once the delivery people that used it to leave your parcel in the house.
You can also install smart cameras in your porch that would send you an in-app notification whenever there is a movement in your porch.
Massive Energy Savings
Home automation is the only way to improve energy efficiency in your home. With the help of this technology, you can save and control your lighting, the heating systems and as well as the HVAC and the cooling systems in your home. The below list is quite an exhaustive one but would enlighten you on how the home automation would save you money on your utility bills:
- You can always use the app to dim the smart light bulbs. This not only gives you a pleasant ambience but also reduces the energy bills and increases the life on the bulbs.
- You can configure the smart
thermostats to regulate the temperature throughout the day, thus ensuring that
it uses little energy as possible. A prime example to this is; during winter’s
if you are accustomed to entering into your home that is warm; then you must be
seeing a hike in your utility bills throughout the season. On the other hand,
if you have a smart thermostat installed and pre-configured to ramp up the
temperature just about an hour before you are scheduled to reach home; and set
to operate at “low” during the day time when no one is present at home; you
would then see a massive cost-saving at the end of the year in your utility
bills.
Smart thermostats have been reported to save approximately 23% on average on both heating and cooling system in 1 year. Imagine your bills getting slashed down by 23% validly on the cooling and heating of your home. That’s huge! - You can schedule your lights to turn off or on throughout the day, given they are expected to do so. Or you can remotely switch them on or off throughout the day if you have the time to keep on monitoring the lights. This gives you the liberty to turn on or off your lights when you are not at home, thus saving on extra bills.
- You can use the smart switches in the home automation infrastructure to cut power supply to the electrical components installed onto them. This all can be done remotely or even through a schedule defined by you. You can very quickly improve this approach by installing motion detectors that would cut off the power supply when it has detected that no one is in the room. Voila! MAGIC!
Water Savings
You can use a smart water sprinkler system that is used to water your plants and grass. But what if it rains outside and you aren’t at home. With the help of a smart water sprinkler system, you can easily cut off the power to it using the smartphone app remotely. This helps you to save on the energy costs and also to preserve water. This device also helps you to monitor your water usage, thus giving you a clear indication if you are going overboard with the water consumption. Which in result would provide you with control over your water bills? You might also face water penalties if you live in a drought area. Be careful people!
Discounts on Home Insurance
Home automation is loved by everyone. Hey, the concept is adored by you too. Why else you would be reading through this article if there wasn’t any affinity towards smart home automation. Am I right?
Many homeowner’s insurance companies will give you a decent discount if you have deployed home automation. Some providers go up to a level of giving you a whopping 10% discount if you have such a smart home automation system deployed. You can get additional discounts if your home automation also includes smart security systems. But at the end of the day, you have to look out for the best quote and would need to make sure that you communicate with the insurance company directly for discounts given that you have such a sophisticated system in place.
Manual Hours Saved
I would not be able to tell you exactly how many seconds, minutes, hours, and days you have saved by the deployment of a smart home automation solution. But I know one thing, “TIME IS MONEY”. Actions such as driving back all the way to check if your front door is locked, a running faucet, an open window, etc. are definitely not worth your time. Well, what I am implying here is that you should be able to do all this remotely with the help of the smart home gadgets and wouldn’t need to worry about driving all the way back from your office or wherever you were. You wouldn’t need to worry about a leaking water connection. Or missing on parcel delivery.
Conclusion
Whether you decide home automation is worth the investment or not, is entirely your decision. But I here at SmartNutter.com educate people to step into the world of home automation and enlighten their lives and embrace this technological change. As it is here to stay and not going to go anywhere!
