Whether you’re looking to save the planet, or simply save on your power bill, it can be difficult to know where to start on your journey to save power. There are so many different technologies out there, so honestly, who on earth knows where to start?
If you’re looking to simply save a little cash on your power bill while cutting down on the dreaded vampire power, then you’ve come to the right place. We’ve compiled a list of easy and affordable ways to save power by replacing things you already have in your home with smart tech.
If you don’t know what vampire power is, it’s when appliances are turned off, but they continue to leech power without you knowing it. Those LED clocks on DVD players, the “off” light on your TV, and the clocks on your stove and microwave are all examples of vampire power. Anything that has a glowing stand-by light once it’s turned off is leeching power without your knowledge.
Turn Off The Lights With Smart Bulbs
Let’s start with the most obvious replacement to save power: smart light bulbs. By giving you more control over your home, technology like smart bulbs can help you save power and thus reduce your energy consumption and costs.
Smart bulbs are controlled through Android or iOS apps, and can even be voice-activated with a smart home hub like the Google Nest or Amazon Echo.
The beauty of smart bulbs is that you can use your app or voice to control every smart bulb in your house simultaneously or separately. You can turn them off, or dim them, or even have them change color if you get the color-changing ones. You can also set them on a specific schedule so you don’t have to worry about accidentally leaving the basement light on while rushing to get ready for work.
Scare Away Vampire Power With Smart Strips
These days, with things like TVs, consoles, DVD or Blu-Ray players, cable boxes, modems, and routers, the majority of us are using power strips to plug everything in at the same place. What most people don’t know, however, is that most of those things that we’ve got plugged in are still costing us money on our electric bills even after they’ve been turned off. That’s what we call vampire power.
Well, smart strips are garlic to vampire power. They have sensors in them that tell them when something like a TV or DVD player, or even a stove or microwave, is turned off, and they cut all power to those devices or appliances. This helps you to save power and money by not being sucked dry by vampire power.
There are some models, according to Rob Nightingale at MakeUseOf, that will automatically cut power to your consoles or DVD/Blu-Ray player once it senses that your television has been turned off.
Save Power And Electricity With A Smart Thermostat
If you’re starting to sense a pattern here with our tech replacements that will help you save power, that’s because there is one. Smart tech is the easiest and most affordable way to lower your energy consumption without breaking your wallet. Unless you’re getting ready to install solar panels on your roof, we imagine that you’re looking for easy tips to help reduce your carbon footprint, and smart tech is the way.
One of the biggest things that runs up our energy bills is leaving our HVAC systems on at all times, for AC in the summer and heat in the winter. Unless, of course, you’re one of those who turns the AC and heat off the moment you leave a room or the house. However, turning your heat on and off throughout the day actually wastes more power, thus running up your energy bill even more than if you had just left it running all day.
But with a smart thermostat connected to your WiFi network, you can control your heating and cooling settings from anywhere with an app. If you turned down your AC when you headed to work in the morning, but want to make sure your house is nice and cool for you when you arrive, simply open the app and tell your smart thermostat to turn the AC up to whatever temp you want.
There are even some smart thermostats, like the Google Nest Thermostat, for instance, that can learn and adapt to your schedule over time so that it can anticipate your heating and cooling needs without you even having to open the app.
Take A Bite Out Of Vampire Power With Smart Plugs
Here’s another smart tech to help you get rid of that leeching vampire power, and these can be used in places that might not be very appropriate for smart strips, like in your kitchen for your oven and microwave.
No one wants to try to remember to unplug their microwave every time they’re done using it, or pull out your stove twice a day to unplug it and plug it back in. So with smart plugs, like the one offered by Amazon that’s compatible with Echo, says Brandt Ranj for Rolling Stone, you can cut the power to appliances like these with just the touch of a button, or your voice. You can even set the smart plugs to turn whatever appliances or electronics are plugged into them at a certain time of the day without even having to use the app.
Not only can smart plugs save power and money, but they’ll also save you time.
2022 will soon be here, and it’s a great time to start trying to reduce your carbon footprint and help the environment all while saving money on electricity, without breaking the bank. If you’re part of the go-big-or-go-home crowd, there are numerous companies waiting to hook you up with solar panels (that you can often get government subsidies for), or even solar-powered generators to run a small home, and solar-powered batteries to charge your electronics.
But, if you’re not yet in the solar power camp, you can still save yourself a lot of money and electricity by outfitting your home with the smart tech mentioned in this article. What’s your favorite smart technology? Let us know!