As part of the maker movement, tinkering with the objects in our environment to make them better is part of our everyday experience. But we understand that not everyone wants to take apart their toasters or set up a home theater system that rivals a multiplex. Even if you’re not particularly interested in having a smart home, though, there are some practical reasons you might consider adopting the technology. These reasons boil down to energy efficiency, accessibility, and convenience, and security, and we’ll tackle each of them in this post.
Energy Efficiency
You’d have to be hiding out in a cave to have missed the Nest thermostat. Heating and cooling costs account for roughly half of homeowners’ utility expenditures. For most people, investing in a smart thermostat can save approximately $1200 over a 10-year period, and will have paid for itself in the second year of ownership. You can see if a smart thermostat is right for you using Nest’s energy savings calculator, which allows you to input your ZIP code, your home’s square footage, etc., and you can check with your utility company or Nest’s rebate page to see if there are any applicable rebates you can use. With the extremes of temperature in Dallas, it has proven to be a great tool.
Other ways smart home technology can save energy are setting up your lights to shut off when no one is in the room, or a smart irrigation system that can save 25 gallons of water per day—about the amount used to take a 5-minute shower. If these energy- and water-saving measures were adopted by a whole community, the scale of savings could be incredible. As this article on smart home communities notes:
If we took it a step further and installed smart water systems into one-quarter of the new homes built in the U.S. last year—125,000—we could have saved more than 3 million gallons each day, and more than a billion gallons a year.
Accessibility
For a disabled or elderly homeowner, smart home technology may provide the tools needed to retain independence. A voice command system can be set up to control lights, lock doors, or even use a telephone or computer. Meanwhile, it can also reduce the burden of home maintenance; a smart irrigation system, for example, can be set up to automatically water a lawn or garden.
Imagine if you worried about an aging parent with health or memory issues, and you were able to be alerted to leaks, or fire, or people entering or exiting the home via an app. Smart home technology makes all of that possible, and more. There are even smart stoves that can be shut off when no one is present, addressing that classic problem of a person turning on the stove and forgetting about it until the house is filled with smoke. With smart home technology, you might be able to postpone a move to a nursing home, or even render it unnecessary.
Security
One of our favorite applications for smart home technology is security. In the last few years, the number of homeowners using security cameras that record images or video when triggered by motion has skyrocketed, and law enforcement has even been able to use that footage to track down criminals. Though most security cameras remain tricky for a non-technical person to set up, there are a few by D-Link that are within reach of a novice user, and are inexpensive to boot. If you do run into trouble, their technical support department is very helpful.
Other security features you might consider for a smart home include door locks that can be opened and closed remotely and require codes, fingerprint identification, or key cards.
Convenience
Out of all the factors listed above, convenience is the reason most people turn to smart home technology. Whether you’re remotely accessing your home’s systems using an app, or allowing your systems to learn your needs and adjust themselves accordingly, smart home tech can dramatically improve your level of comfort. When the house is always the right temperature, the lights go off at the same time so you can watch a movie, or you can let the babysitter into your house with a one-time access code, your life is a little more streamlined, and you have a chance to focus on the things that interest you.
One factor we didn’t touch on but may prove to be increasingly important—resale value. As smart home technology becomes increasingly desirable, it may set your home apart on the market. The technologies most likely to net you a higher resale value include thermostats, smoke detectors, sprinkler systems, door locks, moisture sensors, and solar panels. We wouldn’t recommend adding them just to increase your home value, but if you’re already interested in implementing any of these measures, knowing that other buyers find them desirable might tip the balance for your decision.
Interested in making your home smarter? Contact us—we can evaluate your needs and make suggestions you may not have anticipated.
