Saving Money on Energy Costs with Home Automation

If you’re exploring different ways to save money, home automation may not be the first thing that comes to mind. A common misconception regarding home automation is that it’s only for high-end luxury properties, but with the rapid technological advances that have taken place over the past few years, home automation systems are now available at surprisingly affordable prices. The beauty of these “smart home” systems is that they can be installed without requiring any major alterations to your home, and once the system is up and running, it can do wonders toward saving you money on utilities expenses. Below are three key ways in which home automation can help you save your hard-earned dollars on energy costs.

1. Heating and Cooling

The majority of your energy bill typically comes from heating and cooling expenses. The art of keeping your home at an acceptable temperature can be expensive, especially if your house has an inefficient or outdated heating and cooling system. Money can be wasted by heating or cooling areas of the house that are not being used, or by keeping the system running while you’re away from home for a prolonged period of time.

Smart home automation systems such as the BeHome247 Energy Management Package enable you to program your thermostat remotely from your smartphone, tablet or other Wi-Fi-enabled device. This will allow you to keep your heating and cooling system turned off while you’re away, and then before returning home, you can use your mobile device to turn on the heater or air conditioner so that your house will be at a comfortable temperature by the time you arrive.

2. Lighting

Turning off the lights is the most obvious way to save energy, but another way to curb costs is to lower the intensity or brightness of the lamps you’re using. The actual time frame that most light bulbs need to operate at peak intensity is only a small percentage of a 24-hour day, and with a home automation system, you can enable a dimming function to reduce the intensity of your lamps during non-peak hours.

Although the cost savings per light bulb may only be a handful of pennies per day, when multiplied by the number of light bulbs in your house over a year’s time, it can add up to hundreds of dollars in savings by the end of the year. The BeHome247 Energy Management Package makes it easy to customize and automate your ideal light settings based on your own schedule and usage habits, offering a decisive advantage over the laborious task of manually adjusting all of the lighting yourself.

3. Motion Sensors and Occupation Detectors

Motion sensors have the ability to detect when a person enters or exits a room, and adjust the power settings accordingly. This can take a significant chunk out of your energy bill by ensuring that any lights, sound systems, televisions or small appliances (e.g., curling irons, space heaters, etc.) will be shut off automatically when a room is unoccupied. The BeHome247 Energy Management Package enables you to program these various functions from the convenience of your Wi-Fi-enabled personal digital device. This will ensure that you’re not paying for energy unnecessarily, such as when room lights or small appliances are inadvertently left on while you’re away from home.

The convenience and energy-saving benefits of home automation are hard to beat. Not only can automating your home save you hundreds of dollars a year in energy expenses, but it helps you to automate many of the tasks that can be cumbersome to keep track of in the midst of a hectic daily schedule. Imagine having all of your household lighting, appliance usage and thermostat settings programmed and scheduled to do your bidding like clockwork, day in and day out. Home automation will make your home “smarter,” taking a significant amount of time-consuming activity off your hands, and giving you more time to focus on the things in life that are more important.

BeHome247 Energy Management Package