Improving energy mindfulness with home automation
Winter is coming – and as the days get shorter and the evenings get darker, Australians start to retreat indoors. Greater reliance on household heating and lighting, as well as high-consuming appliances such as clothes dryers, means the demand on household energy can spike leading to increased energy costs and bill shock.
While this has the potential to impact a homeowner’s back pocket, it also opens an opportunity for the contractor to offer some much needed advice.
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The advent of smart home technologies has meant there are a number of new solutions that can alleviate the pressures of energy use for home owners, and provide meaningful data for the contractor/systems integrator to inform upselling opportunities.
What follows, is our step by step guide to doing so.
Step one: Get to know the energy use
The first and perhaps most important step to improving household energy is to audit the current energy use habits of the homeowners and determine where the most energy is being used. Without this information, it’s simply impossible to identify and act upon any weak points.
In the past, this process would have been very overwhelming for the homeowner, however home automation technology can make it much easier.
Automated energy management systems such as Push Controls and Wiser Link can be used to gather and collate a home’s energy use data with the touch of a button. The systems can be accessed from a mobile, tablet or desktop and can pinpoint energy use by room and appliance. The data is then distilled accessible to allow homeowners to have a full picture of their energy use.
Step two: Make the change
Once the energy use issues have been identified, it provides an ideal opportunity for the systems integrator or contractor to offer some meaningful product upgrades for the home. If the data has shown that lighting is an area that requires improvement, you can offer to upgrade the home’s lighting to LED downlights and dimmers which use up to 85 percent less energy than halogen or incandescent lighting.
If it’s heating that’s sending the bills into the danger zone, you can suggest ceiling fans with reverse function – these will maximise heating by forcing warm air down into the living space.
Step three: Monitor and respond
The third and final step is to coach the homeowner to continually monitor and respond to the home’s energy use. Energy management systems like Wiser Link can help to keep energy consumption on track by sending alerts to the homeowner which let them know when they’ve reached or exceeded monthly energy targets. It can also send through details of any power losses and outages so nasty surprises are avoided, like a defrosting fully stocked freezer!
We know that the way a home consumes energy will ebb and flow with the seasons so encouraging the homeowner to frequently observe and act upon this will allow them to save energy in the long term, with some home owners reporting a saving of up to 15 percent off their energy bill once they change their behaviour. This also creates more opportunities for the integrator in terms of product upgrades and advice.
It’s important to remember that a smart home is not necessarily an eco-friendly home – but it can help! A homeowner can automatically open blinds to optimise natural light, or dim lighting to extend the life of lamps. Combining two or more of these energy saving services can minimise energy use even further.
Equipping a home with automated energy saving devices and appliances can make a significant difference to costs and footprint, as well as opening opportunities for the savvy integrator.
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