Do you intend to build a smart home or to make your house more energy efficient: Then smart plugs are your ally.
Smart plug is a great device that allow you to have more effortless control on your electricity consumption points at home and allows you to switch On or Off any device just from your smartphone or even by voice. So let’s see in depth what is a smart plug, how it works and how can it make your home more energy efficient.
What is a smart plug for home use?
Smart plugs are devices that sit between the electrical outlet and the appliances in our home (smart or not) and can be controlled from your smartphone or computer using a special network application. Smart plugs can also be connected to your portable phones, allowing us to turn these appliances on and off remotely. In addition, They allow you to monitor the energy consumption of your devices from your laptop or smartphone via WIFI. By doing this, we can fully automate the home without disturbing the existing control and also optimize energy consumption.
So you can control the things you connect to a smart plug with a programmed schedule or remotely via your phone or voice assistant. That makes smart plugs one of the most affordable and efficient smart home devices to invest in.
What are the benefits of a smart plug for my home?
– Tracking Energy Usage: Smart Plugs allow you to turn existing lamps and appliances into ‘smart’ appliances that you can control remotely from anywhere in the world via WiFi. Moreover, Not only can you use it to turn on/off your appliances, lights, and more remotely, but it also monitors electricity usage and sends reports to its companion app.
– Scheduling shut-downs: Most smart plugs offer a scheduling option. It means you can set up easily a timer for your devices. Once you have a schedule set up, you don’t need to worry about forgetting to turn off your devices: the smart plug will do it for you.
– Avoiding vampire power: We forget often that many appliances are connected to the power, while they’re not used! Even if they are in OFF mode, they still “suck” power, and that is what we call “vampire power” or “phantom loads”. So it’s a pure loss of power! It represents around 20% of the total yearly household electricity consumption, according to the NRDC. By using a smart Plug, you’ll be able to stop that energy leak and to disconnect completely a device from power by a click once they’re in OFF mode.
You can also monitor the electricity consumption of all the devices connected to smart plugs in your house.
How much cost a smart plug?
Still, we can wonder how much does it cost? Fortunately, they are very affordable financially. The unit price varies from 15$ up to 80$, depending on the brand and the available options.
So do smartplugs consume energy?
Smartplugs use around 1-2 Watt of electricity which is a very infinitesimal amount of energy. We measure energy per kW (1000 Watt) per hour, so what is 1 watt comparatively to 1000 of watt?
Some ideas to inspire you
– Charging your phone: When you want to sleep at night and you want to charge your phone for tomorrow: Set the timer of your smart plug at 2-3 hour. It will save a lot of energy while your smartphone is already loaded, and that can also damage its battery in the long term.
– Lighting during absence: Control the lamps of your house by adjusting the timer to give the impression of an occupied home, for example when you leave for holiday.
– Christmas tree: You adjust the timer of your Christmas tree lighting so that it goes on for a chosen lapse of time. Or a simple, “OK Google, turn the Christmas lights on” or an “Alexa, turn the outdoor festive lights on” will create an instant “abracadabra” magic effect.
– Coffee Machine: You can simply adjust your smart plug to turn your coffee maker ON at the time you wake up in the morning, or you also turn it ON with a simple click with the app. So your coffee is ready once you’re in the kitchen!
– Control your smart camera
– Switch ON/OFF your TV with your voice
Conclusion
Smart plugs are your ally if you want to make your home more energy efficient. With a small but smart investment, you can have more control over the energy consumption in your house, but also it will help to save your time, energy, and subsequently the environment.
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