Ontario Green Savings on Why Having a Smart Home is a Smart Thing to Do
How Adopting and Integrating Smart Technology Into a Household Can Make Life Easier and More Secure
The transformation of residential dwellings into smart homes — a process sometimes referred to as home automation, or ‘domotics’ — is a relatively new practice, but one that is rapidly rising in popularity amongst homeowners.
According to Statista, the Canadian smart home market is forecast to grow with a compound annual rate of 10.7% between the years of 2019 and 2023 and is projected to generate $3.8 billion (US) in revenues by the end of that timeframe. If those numbers hold, that would be enormous growth over a relatively short period, and it would indicate that this burgeoning new industry will soon become an economic powerhouse. But what exactly is a smart home? How does it work? Why are so many people embracing the concept and opting to modify their households? In essence, what differentiates an ordinary home from a smart home is the integration of various smart devices and appliances into a single master system to monitor, regulate, and better control the way they function. Envision such seemingly disparate household components as lighting, heating, ventilation, security, and entertainment systems unified via a Wi-Fi hub and administered by the homeowner through a single interface, such as a smartphone, electronic pad, or wall-mounted access panel. Although that description may sound overly complex, the result is precisely the opposite. One of the major selling points of home automation is that it simplifies peoples’ lives. Smart homes have other positive aspects, too. Here, by way of explaining them, is a concise summary of the benefits of adopting and integrating smart technology into a household, as presented by Ontario Green Savings.
Convenience and Comfort
Usually, the initial impetus for a homeowner to consider home automation is the idea of greater convenience and comfort. A properly outfitted smart home contains many devices designed to save its inhabitants’ time and effort. Smart refrigerators, for instance, will monitor the expiration dates on the food stored inside it and notify its owners when products are no longer safe to eat and ought to be thrown away. It will also keep tabs on when certain food items are running low, and automatically add them to a digital grocery list. Other examples of labour-saving devices integrated into smart homes include smart sprinkler systems, which eliminate the need for homeowners to remember to water their lawn and plants, and regulate water distribution based on sensory data, thus preventing over or under-watering. Then there are smart lighting systems, which set accurate lighting schedules, automatically turn on and shut off with the comings and goings of people in a given room, and adjust brightness in accordance with the time of day and the weather.
Safety and Security
Another feature that attracts people to smart homes is their capacity to enhance household safety and security. Integrating the Nest Cam IQ series of security cameras into a smart home network provides an added layer of watchfulness throughout the property, and provides homeowners with additional peace of mind. The Nest Cam Outdoor IQ camera is tamper-resistant, night vision-equipped, and can detect suspicious movement at a range of more than 15 meters. Once it does, it alerts the homeowner by smartphone, sending photos of who or what it sees. The Nest Cam Indoor IQ camera is equipped with 4k sensors, high dynamic range imaging, and a built-in Google Assistant. A series of these devices mounted inside and outside, when combined with other domotic security devices, such as a Nest Hello Doorbell or a Nest x Yale Smart Lock, will increase the safety and security of household immeasurably.
Consumption Reduction and Increased Savings
According to the professionals at Ontario Green Savings, smart homes also appeal to environmentally-minded homeowners, as they greatly reduce household consumption and waste. Emblematic of this is the The Nest Thermostat E. In the first place, it links digitally with a homeowner’s smart phone, and so can easily tell when the house is vacant, reducing heat or air conditioning output accordingly. Over time, it also learns the typical habits of all the residents, accurately applying their climate control preferences based on the time of day, time of year, and outside temperature. It can also be controlled remotely. Ultimately, a smart thermostat like the Nest Thermostat E makes furnaces and air conditioners much more energy efficient. Installing a smart dishwasher along with smart clothes washing and drying units is another great way to reduce consumption — in the case of these appliances, both power and water. These machines collect and interpret data such as energy usage, leakage rates, and moisture levels in order to eliminate as much waste and overuse as possible. They also time their work cycles to coincide with the hours when local energy rates drop. Indeed, fully embracing a smart home invariably leads to a substantial decline in overall utility costs. To use some of the products already described in this blog entry as examples, the estimated average yearly savings after installing a smart refrigerator is $134, a smart sprinkler system is $143, and a smart thermostat is $219.
Whereas they were once thought of as a silly and impractical passing fad, smart homes have proven in recent years to be a definite upgrade from the old style of residential dwelling. Due to their ability to increase convenience and comfort, enhance safety and security, decrease consumption and waste, and, in turn, save homeowners significant amounts of money, the consumer trend toward smart homes is likely to increase exponentially. To put it simply, having a smart home is a smart thing to do.
Ontario Green Savings is a fully licensed, industry leading smart home rental program provider. The company offers a variety of service plans intended to provide protection against unexpected and expensive home heating and cooling systems malfunctions. Elements of these plans include annual maintenance, surge protection, parts, labour, and live telephone customer support twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. Ontario Green Savings requires no invasive pre-inspection of homes, and its protection plans have no deductible and include no hidden costs.
Ontario Green Savings also supplies environmentally-friendly, energy-saving products such as smart thermostats, home water treatment systems, and high efficiency air treatment systems, furnaces, and air conditioners. These products are designed not only to reduce the carbon footprint of their users, but also to provide convenience, increase efficiency, and boost overall quality of life. The Ontario Green Savings group of companies operate across most of Canada, serving more than 8500 customers in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba.
