From Guest Blogger Emily Folk: Is Home Automation a Sustainable Option?

Home automation products are no longer solely for people with plentiful disposable incomes. It’s easy to buy them on specialized websites or at home improvement stores, and there are options to suit most budgets. When many individuals think about ways to improve their abodes, they understandably have sustainability in mind.

Scientists insist there must be a collective effort to stop climate change. Looking for products that support sustainability is one crucial way to do that. It’s overly broad to classify all home automation choices as sustainable, but there are ways for people to capitalize on the smart home trend without overlooking a desire to protect the planet for this generation and future ones.

Home Automation Can Promote Water Preservation

Many people take water for granted because they can turn on their faucets and get a clean, fresh flow of liquid whenever they want. However, water is a finite resource, and preserving it through responsible usage is a crucial part of sustainability. Fortunately, brands have numerous automated products that help prevent wasted water.

U by Moen is an intelligent shower head that responds to your voice or to preset specifications about the water temperature and time of your shower. It’s a smart pick if you’re trying to limit the length of your showers but don’t want to deal with using a separate timer. It’s also possible to pause the shower’s flow. Then, if you have to get out of the shower quickly to do something like quiet your crying infant, you won’t waste water.

Smart sprinklers can also help you be more sustainable. They offer substantial benefits compared to traditional sprinklers. You can set them to operate for a certain number of days or minutes per week based on your landscaping needs. Many even monitor the weather forecast and don’t activate when there’s rain in the forecast. There are also models that assess how long it would take for water to evaporate from the soil depending on your yard’s characteristics.

Enjoy More Control Over Energy-Consuming Devices

Another reason why home automation can be a sustainable choice is that it tends to increase energy-efficiency by letting people maintain more precise control over the devices linked to a smart home platform. If a person uses an Amazon or Google Home smart speaker, they can connect multiple smart devices to it, such as a thermostat and several smart lights.

Additionally, automated gadgets typically have dedicated apps that let people control them without being in the same room. So, if you’re cooking dinner and suddenly remember that you left the lights on in the upstairs bedroom, you can turn them off without leaving the kitchen.

It’s even possible to benefit from those energy savings for non-smart devices. That’s because you can use smart plugs and smart power strips to automate your home if you don’t have many high-tech gadgets yet. They allow people to stop the flow of power into any device connected to the plug or strip on demand. Those are particularly handy if you’re concerned about energy consumption from devices when you are not using them.

Renewable Energy Could Make Your Automated Home Even More Sustainable

The sections above cover many of the reasons why home automation can indeed be a sustainable option for the people who are interested in it. Plus, if you look for opportunities to use renewable energy, that’s an excellent way to increase your home’s sustainability.

Renewable power is gaining momentum in the United States. According to one report associated with April 2019, analysts said renewables would generate more energy than coal that month — and for the first time. Many companies throughout the country enable customers to get all or most of their energy from renewable sources.

By signing up with one of those energy providers, you could do your part to reduce your carbon footprint through being more mindful about the sources of generated energy that you use.

It’s always a good idea to take an in-depth look at where the renewable energy used by a certain company comes from — such as a wind or solar farm. Doing that will help you become a well-informed consumer and feel confident that you’ve made an educated decision about your energy provider.

Conservation Blended With Convenience

When you carefully choose automated gadgets, it’s easy to find maximally sustainable products. Besides making personal conservation goals more achievable, automated items for your residence bring convenience. You can control them with just a few taps on your smartphone screen, and many smart home offerings have built-in metrics that help you see how your usage stacks up from month to month.

It’s up to you to live a more sustainable lifestyle. But, handy smart home automation products can kickstart the process and help your household develop greener habits.