Making Your Home Energy Efficient Through Home Automation

What many people think about first when they hear the words ‘home automation’ are fancy home security systems that have remote viewing capabilities that monitor your home for fire, break-ins, and other possible problems. A local security service is then notified to deal with the situation.

What they may not realize is that the most common automated system in use is the one that controls the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning of a home. These modern systems can do things such as monitor the air temperature and make adjustments when necessary, thereby reducing the amount of energy a home uses.

Forced air systems are now becoming the standard across North America and offer advantages including:

• More effective air conditioning
• Better heating options
• Energy savings of 15 to 20 percent

In addition to programmable thermostats, which regulate home’s temperature to maximize energy efficiency, there’s a new concept in heating called zone control.  Zone control involves the use of multiple thermostats that allows a heating system to distribute the heat only where it is needed.

The heating, ventilation and air conditioning system (HVAC) isn’t the only thing that a home automation system will control in order to run your home in an energy efficient manner. There’s also the question of lighting.

With automated lighting, you can set the lights to turn on or off at predetermined times, control brightness and even turn off automatically when people leave the room. This can result in a major reduction to your monthly utility bill!

When deciding to upgrade your home to include a home automation system, look for a certified RESNET EnergySmart contractor who can provide you with information on which systems will best meet your needs.