If you have opened an electricity bill recently and done a double-take at the total, you aren’t alone. Although energy prices have fallen from their peak, they are still running above the pre-Russia invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and as recent moves by energy companies showed, prices are set to shift higher.
Smart home technology cannot only make your home more secure, but it can also help you be more energy efficient, with a little upfront investment.
From cutting back on heating costs to eliminating standby, there are plenty of options to help energy-conscious consumers get a grip on their bills.
Smart heating controls
One area where you can get your energy costs under control is with heating your home. The SEAI is running a campaign at the moment to let people know about home-improvement upgrades for insulation and more eco-friendly heating systems, but it is also worth looking at smart heating controls to cut down on wasted energy.
Google’s Nest has led the way on this one. When introduced in 2011, the original thermostat learned from your preferences and schedule over a couple of weeks, using additional information provided by your smartphone to figure out your location and heat your home accordingly. If the house was empty and no movement was detected, the thermostat would turn down the heating to avoid wasting energy and money heating an empty house.
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Google has since dropped support for some of its older models, but the third and fourth generation of the learning thermostat are still in working order. The most widely available version – the Nest Thermostat E – takes away some of the learning features, but is cheaper and easier to install. You can still control it remotely via the app, and if you have Google smart speakers in the house, you don’t even have to open your smartphone to adjust the temperature – just ask Google to do it.
Google isn’t the only smart heating control out there. Bord Gáis owner Centrica has developed Hive, a smart home system that will not only control your home heating but also link in with bulbs and other devices such as cameras and sensors.
Unlike the Nest, you set a schedule to control your heating, but the thermostat will also cut off the heating when your home reaches its desired temperature. You stay comfortable, the bills stay manageable. Everyone is a winner.
Other systems such as Netatmo and Tado not only offer smart thermostats, but also smart thermostatic radiator valves, so you can really cut back on wasted heat by controlling the heat in individual rooms.
Smart lighting
Light bulbs have also had a tech glow-up. Whether using Bluetooth or built-in wifi, your home can have a new energy-efficient lighting system for relatively little outlay and almost no hassle.
The bulbs are also LED, which means they will use less power than traditional incandescent bulbs or fluorescent tubes. The bulbs also have the advantage of turning on almost instantly, unlike the previous generation of energy-efficient bulbs.
To cap it all off, the bulbs have been recommended by An Garda Síochána as a security measure too, so they can be turned on and off even if your home is empty.
Smart bulbs have been around for some time, but some people have been slow to get on board. There are good reasons for that, however, with the early technology much more difficult to set up and pricier than it is now.
Philips jumped on board early with the Hue system, which allowed you to not only control your bulbs from afar but also use them to create lighting effects that mimicked candlelight or were designed to help you focus on work or study.
Now the range has expanded to include LED light strips, candle bulbs and even a range of Hue lamps and lights suitable for use both inside and outside the house, from wall-mounted outdoor lights to LED pillar lights that can be controlled from your phone.
Its Bluetooth-enabled Wiz bulbs can link together to create a presence-sensing network to automate your lighting based on motion, so lights will turn on only when there is movement in a room.
There are other, more cost-effective options though. TP-Link’s Tapo bulbs, for example, don’t need a hub for remote access and are available in a variety of connections, from the standard bayonet fittings to the GU10 spotlights that might be dotted around your home. You can also put them on a constantly changing schedule, for example, turning on at 15 minutes after sunset, so you need never adjust for the shifting seasons and have lights turn on unnecessarily.
They can be simple, tunable white lights – also dimmable with a smart switch, though this requires the TP-Link hub – or full-on colour-changing bulbs that allow you to mimic scenes such as sunset, lightning strikes and the Northern Lights.
Smart plugs
One of the easiest ways to make your home smarter is also one of the simplest: smart plugs. These handy devices can be linked to your home wifi network and controlled via an app, allowing you to turn appliances, lights and plug-in heaters on and off, regardless of your location.
It means you can set appliances on a schedule, or set them up to turn off when everyone leaves the house. Lamps can be set to turn on and off on a schedule so lights aren’t left on for hours when they are not needed. Using the plugs also eliminates any questions about whether you remembered to turn off the iron or unplugged the hair straighteners – a bonus for the forgetful and anxious among us.
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If you want to eliminate the power drained unnecessarily by standby mode for home electronics, you can connect your TV and entertainment devices to a smart plug that allows you to shut them off with a single voice command. Although new EU regulations are clamping down on standby power drain, that comes too late for older appliances. Plus all that standby, even in its more power-efficient form, will add up over time.
Before you invest in any smart plugs, though, do a bit of research. Do the plugs need a separate hub for remote access? Can they link in with your chosen smart home system – ie Google Home, Amazon Alexa or Apple’s HomeKit? How much power do they draw themselves?
There are plenty of brands available, but TP-Link is a good option. Its Tapo plugs are not only compact and easy to set up, they don’t require a hub for remote access. You can connect them to your home network and then turn them on and off according to your chosen schedule, or simply through the Tapo app. TP-Link also has an energy-monitoring version that will record how long the plug has been active and how much power it has used – useful if you are trying to pinpoint the energy hogs in your home.
Kitchen appliances
Technology can be helpful, but sometimes it feels as if it is only there to tick a box. While it may be occasionally useful to be able to turn the oven on and off remotely, or have your fridge suggest recipes for the food it contains, most people will rarely have a use for it.
However, opting for more energy-efficient appliances rather than adding Bluetooth and wifi could have a real impact on your bills.
One appliance that has benefited from this shift is the air fryer. It has surged in popularity in recent years as a healthier way to cook, as it does not require the use of oil. Basically, it will cook almost anything your oven will, but it heats up more quickly and cooks food faster, so it uses a lot less energy. This comes in particularly handy if you are trying to keep your energy bills down. In our house the oven only gets used for meals that require several trays cooking at once – a rare occurrence.
Not all air fryers are equal though. Size is an important consideration, with the energy-saving benefits of an air fryer diminishing rapidly if you need to go two or three rounds to get all the food cooked.
How easy it is to clean is another factor, with some recommending handwashing everything. If that doesn’t appeal to you, look for one that you can dump into the dishwasher.
The Bosch Series 6 air fryer has a 7.2 litre capacity and options for everything from vegetables and chips to meat and poultry. To put it in context, you could get a decent-sized chicken into it for your Sunday dinner. You can also do bread and small pastries, and there is also a warming option that will keep your food hot.
On certain programmes it will beep to remind you to shake the food to ensure even cooking. And the best thing is that most of the bits can go in the dishwasher, so it is easy to clean.
It has one other handy feature: a window so you can keep an eye on your food without having to open the appliance.
If you want something that has a few more functions, the Ninja Foodi Multicooker is a pressure cooker, slow cooker and air fryer in one. Some versions have an option for searing, steaming or dehydrating your food, but if the budget allows, go for the one that has the smart lid so you don’t have to store extra accessories.