Reduce, reuse, recycle - those are the pillars of sustainability we were taught as children. As we’ve gotten older, things like renewable energy, hybrid cars, and eating less meat have entered the conversation, but what about technology? Is there a way technological advances can help you live a more eco-friendly, sustainable lifestyle?
While not all aspects of technology are eco-friendly, the average new laptop has a carbon footprint of 331 kgs or, in other words, produces enough CO2 to fill ⅓ of an average three-bedroom home. Some smart home features can help you regulate your day-to-day energy uses and thus make your home more energy-efficient and eco-friendly. And with over 40 million smart homes in the US, it doesn’t look like the smart home is going anywhere.
Continue reading to learn how you can use smart home features to not only make your day-to-day life easier but also make the planet happier.
What is a Smart Home?
If you don’t already have a smart home set up, you first need to understand what a smart home is before you can efficiently use all its potential features. Although every smart home may vary from owner to owner and system to system, the term smart home refers to a home that uses technology to allow a home’s systems and electronics to communicate with one another, be controlled by a timed schedule, and be remotely activated from a smartphone or other web-enabled device. Smart home technology may include your home's lighting, temperature, security systems, and appliances like your television, coffee pot, hot tub, computer, and sound system.
Smart home technology is designed to help homeowners simplify their everyday lives and uses advanced technology to automate and replicate human tasks. When creating your perfect smart home, it is important to choose systems and appliances that are important parts of your lifestyle. If you’re not a coffee drinker, no need to invest in a smart coffee maker. Entertain often? You may want to invest in a sound system that can be integrated into your smart home system.
Now that you have a better idea of what a smart home is let’s take a look at some of the smart home features that can make your lifestyle a little greener.
Temperature Control
Investing in a smart thermostat is a great way to make your home more eco-friendly. A smart thermostat can help you save money and reduce your energy costs when programmed efficiently. With a smart thermostat, you can adjust your home’s temperature remotely while at work or even on vacation, so you never have to worry about forgetting to turn your AC or heat off while you’re away. You can set your smart thermostat to adjust the temperature when you’re at work and re-adjust it when you’re on your way home. Some smart thermostats can even sense when a door is left open and can cut the AC or heat to that area when that happens. Many smart thermostats will even allow you to see how much energy you’ve been using.
Window Treatments
Smart window treatments are another great way to help reduce energy costs by reducing the use of your AC and heating systems. Proper, energy-efficient window treatments can help keep your home cool in the summer and warm in the winter. With smart window treatments, you can make this process even more efficient by setting your blinds to close during the hottest parts of the day during the summer and programming them to stay open during the hottest parts of the day during the cold winter months.
Lighting
We’ve all heard about the importance of upgrading your lightbulbs to LEDs to save energy. LEDs use at least 75% less energy and last up to 25 times longer than incandescent lighting, but are there other ways you can save energy when it comes to lighting?
With smart lights, you can adjust your indoor and outdoor lighting remotely from a smartphone app or with a control panel in your home. You can schedule your smart lights to turn on and off at certain times of the day, like when you leave for work, get home from work, or lay down to go to bed.
Irrigation
Did you know that as much as 50% of outdoor water is lost to wind evaporation and runoff caused by inefficient irrigation methods and systems? A smart irrigation system can help save water and save you money on your water bill. Some smart irrigation systems can even check the weather forecast and adjust your watering system if rain is in the day’s forecast.
GVTC Security
No matter what smart devices you already own, GVTC connectHome Professional Monitoring Security could be the next step you need to take to complete your smart home setup.
This system is designed to let you monitor who visits or leaves your home in real-time, lock and lock and unlock your doors remotely, and so much more! It can also -
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Regulate your home temperature
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Control your lights
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Help your children access the house safely when they return home from school
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Control your appliances remotely
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And more!
Geofencing and Smart Scenes
Geofencing and smart scenes are two features of GVTC that can really help you make your home and day-to-day life more eco-friendly.
With geofencing, your home knows when you leave as well as when you’re on your way back home. By creating a geofence perimeter around your home, you can trigger different things to happen depending on whether you are coming or going. Things like arming your security system and shutting off all the lights when you leave your home or turning on your lights and opening your garage door when you get home at night. By utilizing geofencing, you no longer have to worry about leaving lights and appliances on or forgetting to arm your security system. You can even use it to turn down your AC during the hot summer months once you leave home.
Smart scenes are another great way to make your home “greener” and can be used on their own or in conjunction with geofencing. Smart scenes are preconfigured settings for lights, appliances, and other smart devices in a given space. For example, you can program your home to wake up before you do by having your blinds start to open to let in a little more morning light and turn on the coffee maker to get things brewing before you’ve even opened your eyes. Smart scenes can be programmed into geofencing configurations, set to a timer, voice-activated, or triggered by the push of a button.
Click here to learn more about GVTC’s security packages.
