What is Smart Energy? Can It Save You Money?
It is estimated that Australians waste energy worth more than $222 million each year. Think of every time you leave your air conditioner running full blast even when nobody is at home or when the aircon temperature is set to 21°C or below even though running it at 24°C will keep you comfortable. Curbing energy wastage is not just about saving money, it’s also about helping the environment.
Even if you can afford to waste money, you are still adding to the CO2 emissions as more than 90% of Australia’s energy demand is met by the use of fossil fuels. Fortunately, there are affordable solutions available in the market in the form of smart home devices to help you save money and the environment. This blog post will explore the topic of smart energy and how you can use smart home devices and monitoring systems to save money and help the environment.
What Is Smart Energy?
Smart energy is a concept. The concept is focused on using sustainable/renewable energy sources and smart devices. The use of smart energy not only helps the environment but also saves money. It involves the use of smart devices that help in increasing energy efficiency and avoiding the wastage of energy.
Benefits of Smart Energy
There are several advantages of embracing smart energy in your daily life. Here’s a list of some of the major benefits of smart energy:
- Get more value for your money
- Cut down energy wastage
- Real-time energy usage data collection and monitoring
- More control over energy usage
- Substantial savings in the long run
- Helps in reducing pollution by cutting down the use of fossil fuels
What Makes a Home Energy-Efficient?
An energy-efficient home is all about making judicious use of energy without compromising on the comforts. Thanks to ongoing innovation and the introduction of a huge variety of smart devices, it is easier than ever to manage your usage of energy. Here are a few tips to make your home more energy-efficient:
- Replace all the lighting with energy-efficient and long-lasting LEDs
- Invest in a smart thermostat that allows you to program it and only run the heating and cooling when you need it
- Use of smart plugs to control the energy use of constantly running appliances such as TVs, computers and other such appliances that you always leave on
- Use of smart water valves to cut down on water wastage
- If you have a lawn, invest in a smart sprinkler controller to cut down on water wastage
- Maximise the use of natural sunlight
- Closing off all air leaks to reduce energy wastage on heating and cooling
- Investing in solar power
In short, the overall focus of making a home more energy-efficient is to use smart devices to control energy usage. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to achieve this goal. There are smart plugs that can make traditional plugs smart. The smart plugs can completely switch off power to appliances that are always running such as TVs, coffee makers and others.
Investment in solar power is another way to make your home more energy-efficient. After all, solar power is free and you only need to invest in solar panels to generate electricity from this huge free resource.
How to Save Money and Energy with Smart Home Devices
There are a variety of ways to save a serious amount of money with the help of smart home devices. Always-connected devices are not a fad anymore. These are real devices that not only make your life easy but can also help you save a substantial amount of money in the long run.
You won’t be able to save enough to make a down payment on a new electric car but the savings add up over the years. Furthermore, you will be happy in not just saving money but also contributing toward making the environment better by controlling your energy usage. Here are a few tips on saving money and energy with smart devices:
- Use smart plugs to cut down on vampire power. Smart plugs can be used to cut power to decorative lights or lamps when nobody is at home. Similarly, these plugs can be used to cut power to appliances that are not in use.
- Make use of smart lights to save energy by programming them to turn on and turn off at the right time
- Smart light switches can be used to save money. Many of these are motion sensor enabled.
- Smart thermostats can help you save a substantial amount of money on utility bills
- There are also smart water leak detectors that can help you save money and more importantly, prevent water damage
Final Thoughts
Internet-connected smart devices were once the stuff of science fiction but have now become a reality. Today you can buy a huge variety of smart devices at affordable prices. Smart devices such as smart plugs, smart lighting, smart thermostats and water leak detectors can be used to cut down energy usage and save money as well as help the environment at the same time. If you’re still not using smart devices, you should do it now.
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Macedon Ranges Solar Power is the premier installer of solar panels in the Macedon Ranges region. We are accredited by the Clean Energy Council and offer a wide range of solar power products including installation, repair and maintenance of solar panel power systems.
Please give us a call today on 1300 693 113 or make an enquiry.
