Converting your home to a smart home can save you money and time. Want to learn more about the benefits of a smart home?
Smart homes have been trending lately as technology has advanced. If you're unfamiliar with the concept of a smart home, just think of the Jetsons. Although the technology isn't very advanced yet, the days of your home doing laundry for you are not far off. Converting your home to a smart home can benefit you and your wallet in many other ways, so it's worth considering your options.
1) Lower Your Utility Bills
One of the biggest things every homeowner wants is low utility bills. The biggest offenders are power-hungry appliances, lighting, and of course heating and cooling. However, thanks to smart home devices like the EcoBee4 and the Nest Learning Thermostat, you can start saving and saving.
EcoBee4 makes it easy to use electricity more efficiently. It's a smart thermostat that's been featured in Forbes, The New York Times, and countless other publications for being a truly smart device.
With this information,
the device knows when to raise the temperature and when to lower it. So if you're not in a certain room, the thermostat will signal to stop pumping heat there. It also learns the times you usually go to bed and wake up so it can raise or lower the temperature accordingly, saving you money. Unlike other smart thermostats, the EcoBee4 also has Amazon Alexa voice capabilities so you can use it to listen to the news, get weather updates, and even order groceries. You can also ask it to play music or set a time to remind you to take dinner out of the oven.
Another extremely
popular smart thermostat device is the Nest Learning Thermostat. It's WiFi-enabled so you can monitor your home's temperature no matter where you are. Have you ever left your house and forgotten to turn down the heat or the AC currents, or you're not sure if you did or not? The Nest device eliminates all those worries and concerns. Simply open the Nest app on your phone or tablet to check or change the temperature in your home.
Nest also
has a slightly cheaper version with fewer features, allowing almost anyone to own the device and start saving on their electricity bills. Being able to check the temperature in your home is great, of course, but what's even better is that these devices can save you up to 23% on your heating and cooling costs each year. Another reason to go this route is that they're easy to set up, look sleek, and are Energy Star certified, which means they're environmentally friendly.
2) Secure Your House
Smart devices can also help you stay more secure, alert and informed. There are extremely advanced security cameras like the Arlo Pro by Netgear. The company has a range of smart home security products to give its customers peace of mind anytime, anywhere.
Its products are all wireless, waterproof, cloud-based, and allow you to view live and recorded video anytime. Arlo Pro is an outdoor security camera system that is easy to set up and use, has extremely high video quality, and many other useful features to keep you and your family safe. It is weatherproof, has a camera with a 130° viewing angle, and has night vision that automatically turns on at night. The camera can be fully controlled via your phone, allowing you to view its recordings, talk through the camera and sound an alarm.
People looking for smart security products will also love the August Smart Lock Pro, August's latest product that lets you control your door from anywhere. Advanced Lock lets you lock and unlock your door, get keyless entry, and track who's coming and going, all from your phone. The hardware of the device is carefully placed inside your door, so the exterior hardware of your door remains the same. You can use your key or choose to use keyless control at any time. Smart Lock Pro also easily integrates with other smart home devices like Nest, as well as voice services like Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant.
3) A 24/7 Personal Assistant
Of course, you can't mention a smart home and not have the idea of a personal assistant in mind. It's the classic futuristic scene. you go about your day and talk to a floating robot that is capable and willing to do anything you ask of it. Although we're not there yet, we're getting there with Amazon Echo. Amazon Echo is a cylindrical product that is a voice-controlled smart assistant. You can talk to the device and Alexa, Amazon's virtual assistant, will respond. You can ask Alexa to read a recipe, give you train schedules or sports game scores, or almost anything else. Since Echo, there has been the Amazon Echo Dot and the touchscreen Amazon Echo Show.
4) Be In Control At All Times
Having a smart home also puts you in control. You can control the temperature of your house and the lock on your front door, but did you know you can also control the lights? The Philips Hue lighting system is an advanced smart lighting system that no smart home would be complete without. The lights are available in white or color and, because they have geofencing technology,
you can control
them remotely from your phone or tablet. By doing this, you can turn off the lights in your house when they are not in use to save electricity. You can also activate them when you are away, to fool potential thieves into thinking you are home. If you want a smart lighting system that's more basic than Philips Hue, try the Lutron Caseta Wireless Bridge, which lets you control lights, shades, and temperature from an app. To keep all your smart devices connected, use Samsung SmartThings. The kit connects to any smart device and allows you to easily control and track it.
Smart Home, Smart Choice
The benefits of turning your house into a smart home are endless. From saving money on your heating and cooling bills and staying safer with keyless locks and security cameras, to letting a personal assistant take care of your daily tasks, a smart home is certainly a smart choice.