How a smart home helps save electricity
Smart homes equipped with residential automation systems are constantly gaining popularity. This should not come as a surprise, since they provide convenience, safety, potential energy savings, and are environmentally friendly. The growing interest in the smart home is supported by data. Worldwide, the penetration rate of such systems is expected to reach 38.7% by 2021; in comparison, this figure in 2016 was only 8.2%.
From simple smart devices to full-featured smart home solutions, many people decide to buy them to reduce their energy consumption and bills. This is really possible. How much can a user actually save by using a home automation system?
Modeling the situation
To find out what real energy savings look like, it was decided to programmatically simulate the environment and create two numerical energy models. The first one did not use a home automation system, and the second one was connected.
The analysis concerned an apartment with an area of 42 m2. It was assumed that the apartment is located in a moderate climate and two working people live in it. The annual demand for electricity was about 2000 kWh.
Analysis of the electrical system
The simulation shows that the daily energy savings when using a home automation system was 6.4%. Within a month, using the system will reduce consumption by 7-8%, which gives approximately 8% savings per year.
What is the reason for such savings? How can a home automation system help reduce energy consumption? First of all, offering the user the ability to remotely control devices. It is very easy to forget to disable them in a hurry, even though the counter is constantly running. Thanks to the mobile app connected to the automation system installed at home, you do not need to worry about accidentally left light or enabled devices.
This is especially important in the case of ” energy vampires” or devices that consume energy every time they are connected, even if the user is not actively using them. The worst culprits are smartphone and laptop chargers, as well as devices with active standby modes such as TVs. The user can avoid this phantom power consumption by disabling each device separately, but this process can be cumbersome. However, if a smart socket is used, the power can be automatically turned off for devices that are not in use or are in standby mode.
What can an automation system do for the user in terms of lighting?
How can smart lighting devices save money? This is facilitated by smart home components such as:
smart sockets;
food controllers;
intelligent lighting.
First, the use of such systems makes it possible to program a lighting system that automatically turns off when not in use. Second, many smart led lamps are more energy efficient than their older counterparts, which means that the user gets the same amount of light with less consumption.
This function is useful, for example, if a person forgot to turn off the iron or turn off the air conditioner before leaving the house. Modern smart sockets also allow you to monitor the power consumption of individual devices in real time, so you can find out which ones have the greatest impact on energy bills.