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A connected home is an efficient home, and the Internet of Things approach allows you to sync and streamline your home's various gadgets, gizmos and devices.
Imagine a world in which your fridge talks to your mobile phone, your alarm clock communicates with your coffee machine and the air conditioning is synced up with your car’s GPS system. While that may sound like bad science fiction, the reality is all these things already exist and are available right now.
The Internet of Everything may be a clunky term, but it’s a pretty simple concept - a series of electronic devices that wirelessly share information - and has become synonymous with the modern smart home. Simply put, it’s a centralised way to connect, monitor and streamline your home’s daily functions and energy usage.
It's getting hot in here
Centralising your home’s cooling and heating is one of the simplest and most effective ways to benefit from the Internet of Everything approach. Linking your air conditioner to your smartphone or tablet via a programmable thermostat means you can track temperatures across different times and different rooms. You can even automatically turn on the air con while driving home, so the house has cooled down for your arrival.
Just watching the electricity bill
If you want to take things a step further, there are numerous tools to track and adjust electricity usage throughout the house. Just like a car’s dashboard can show you fuel efficiency in real time, a connected home can alert you to unexpected spikes in energy usage as they occur. Whether it’s the washer and dryer growing old and needing more power to get through a load, or the energy wasted on a TV in standby mode, home automation software lets you know where your power (and your money) is being spent.
Some of the more popular tools on the market include smart meters, thermostat controls, connected entertainment systems and home security systems. All of these can be grouped together and accessed via your smartphone or tablet. Whether you call it a smart home or the Internet of Everything approach, it’s already here and available in more and more homes.
Your coffee is getting cold
Billions of devices are currently connected to the internet. And as the price and size of microchips continues to plummet, the number of connected devices will only rise, with everything from kettles to toasters eventually being looped into a central hub. So if you like the idea of your alarm clock being synced to your coffee machine, and the floor tiles in your bathroom heating up automatically, rest assured the future is almost here.
In the meantime, you can relax on your couch and talk to EnergyAustralia about the numerous ways smart technology can help you monitor, control and streamline your energy usage.
