As they say, home is where the hearth is, but as bright and warm as that may be, it is also a big source of carbon emissions.  The fact is, the electricity we use in our daily life is still predominantly based on fossil fuel generation and the heating of our home is also typically based on oil or natural gas, too.  Until we can cost-effectively switch those sources to clean and renewable energy, we are left with trying to minimize the impact of the fossil fuels we do consume. So what can we do to economize and cut back on the use of polluting energy?  The answer is to embrace the smart home revolution.

 

To start with, the most cost-effective way to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels is to use less of them. Conducting a home energy audit of your home first can identify ways to better insulate and seal your home to keep it warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer, while using less fuel or electricity.  You can sign-up for a home energy audit at EnergizeCT.  These audits pay for themselves in lower energy bills and definitely reduce your carbon footprint.

 

In addition to energy efficiencies in the home structure such as insulation and sealing, or the use of LED bulbs and Energy-Star Appliances, you can now also start to buy and install smart devices in your home that will monitor and control energy usage and help you find further saving opportunities.  These products will save you money, essentially paying for themselves in savings. What follows is a quick tour of three different smart home devices that everyone should consider using.

 

What is a smart home device?  Typically we are talking about a device that works with your home electrical system and appliances or works with your heating and cooling systems. These devices monitor and control parts of your energy-using devices and connect conveniently to smart-phone apps through your home wi-fi network.  Here we will provide an overview of four such devices to provide a flavor of the many hundreds that are now available on the market.

 

For anyone wishing to understand where their electricity is going and whether it is efficiently used or not, you would have a hard time getting a complete picture. Yes, your refrigerator, clothes dryer, and other major appliances are the heavy uses.  But how much is your always-on phantom load of plugged in appliances using every day and how does that compare to the average home? If you can cut that down you can save a lot of money over time. Could you also save money by getting rid of a ten-year old refrigerator and buy a new Energy-Star model?  If your home is already getting more modern you would want to know even more – like how much solar power are you generating and how much electricity does it take to charge my electric car? What is that worth at current electric rates? The answer to these questions can come from a device and app called Sense. 

 

Sense is a device that you can purchase and have professionally installed in your electrical circuit breaker box.  It connects to home wi-fi and monitors the electrical signature of each device that draws electricity in your home.  Using machine learning, it can identify each device you have plugged in and somewhat accurately determine what kind of device it is.  It will identify refrigerators, dryers, ovens, microwaves, garage door openers, electric cars, lights, vacuums and countless other devices.  Once identified it provides detailed reports on the usage of each of those devices and gives an overall home report on a real-time basis and trended over time. If you have Solar on your house it also shows how much energy your solar panels are producing.