Technology At Home: Accessibility, Efficiency, and Security
These days, most of us are used to our 30-year-old homes being technological marvels in their own right: central heating and A/C, cable television, wireless internet, self-regulating circuits, and modern appliances like dishwashers, microwaves, and clothes dryers. These are so commonplace that it’s easy to not only take them for granted, but also to assume they represent the apex of modern living and technology in the home. Thanks to Moore’s Law, technology is advancing at a breakneck pace on all fronts, not the least of which is home-based consumer technology. While improved lawnmowers, appliances, and entertainment technology tend to grab the most headlines, less noticed improvements and advances in everyday household items are making home life easier and cheaper for all consumers and homeowners.
So how did we miss all of this, and how could these new technologies benefit you? For starters, it’s understandable if you’re late to the party on this one; self-driving cars and privatized space travel just seem to capture everyone’s imaginations more easily. As cool as those things are, they’re not really applicable yet to the lives of most consumers, so what we want to talk about is home-based technology. Most consumers have heard of smart homes (think “smart” like a smartphone), but the details get a little lost amidst the excitement of tech conventions and visions of Jetsons-style futuristic homes. For most of us, the future is now, and you’d be surprised just how many gadgets there are out there that can radically transform your home for an affordable price.
You might be asking yourself what the point of seemingly superfluous gadgets is, and to an extent, you’d be right; we’re not here to talk about pet cameras even though they’re super cool and we love our pets as much as anyone. For the sake of pragmatic home design, we’re going to focus on practical additions to the home that have one or more of three main purposes: accessibility, efficiency, and security.
Accessibility
An integrated home with readily accessible features within, say, the confines of a smartphone, is probably what most people picture when thinking of a smart home. True, you can get a refrigerator that automatically inventories your food and either sends you a shopping list or, more recently, orders your groceries for you, but that’s pretty expensive. The conscientious homeowner should be more focused on integrating more mundane household tasks into a single interface, whether it’s your lights, your blinds, your climate control, or even your home security system. For most of these, a smartphone is required, and several apps are available to facilitate this. Being able to remotely view your property from your phone via an IP camera (more on that in a minute), even when you’re away, is an extraordinarily valuable tool for homeowners, and the cost of such a system is usually less than $150.
For elderly or disabled residents, these accessibility technologies can be a huge game-changer, allowing for greater independence and convenience. Even if you’re neither elderly nor disabled, these technologies are incredibly convenient and save a good bit of time, and as we all know (especially if you work in real estate), time is money. Voice-command or programmable systems are now fairly inexpensive, and allow homeowners to control lights, lock doors, or automate certain tasks like watering the lawn, removing the need to perform these labor-intensive tasks on a regular basis. Speaking of programmable systems, this brings us to our next point: efficiency.
Efficiency
Automation and integration increase both accessibility and efficiency, and when we say “efficiency” in this context, we’re mostly talking about saving money. The great thing about these additions is that they can be implemented with most current household items. For example, lights can shut off automatically when no one is in a room, and the thermostat can be set to let the indoor temperature drop during the day before returning it to a more comfortable level just before residents arrive in the evening. Again, both of these are examples of accessibility and convenience, but they also cut down on your utility bill and are immune to normal bouts of forgetfulness. How many times have you rushed out of the house to head to work and forgotten to lower the thermostat or turn off your outside lights? Speaking of lights, if you’re not using LED lights, you’re spending entirely too much money each month on electricity. One of the most overlooked advances of the past two decades, LED’s are no longer just for Christmas lights or live concerts; they’re a mainstay of home additions these days, and particularly notable for their extraordinarily low power draw. If normal incandescent bulbs are SUV’s with V8 engines, LED lighting is like a Toyota Prius.
Combining the low power draw of LED’s and automated shutoff mechanisms, you stand to save a great deal on your electricity bill just from lighting alone. Thermostats that are connected to your smartphone are also inexpensive these days, and can be added to nearly all central A/C systems. When your phone’s GPS location is out of the house, the thermostat will lower the temperature or, for some units, the thermostat will sense whether or not anyone is in the house and adjust itself accordingly. Programmable thermostats are also available, and they can be automated to adjust the temperature at set hours of the day. All of these tasks, along with modern, energy-efficient appliances, combine to save on electricity, water and natural gas, thereby reducing the strain on natural resources and your wallet.
Security
Security is a pressing concern for any homeowner, and most of us have alarm systems or even cameras in our homes. They’re not only a deterrent to potential intruders, but can also provide valuable information in the event of a burglary to aid law enforcement in returning your property. What you may not know is that several advancements have made home security both tighter and more affordable in recent years. A good example is IP cameras, which use your home’s Wi-Fi or Internet system to transmit and store footage. In the past, if footage needed to be stored, it had to be done on a hard drive or on videocassettes, both of which are expensive and, to an extent, a waste of space. If you’re attempting to monitor your property 24/7, that footage does you little good in the event of a break-in if it’s not recorded and stored somewhere. IP cameras are not only remotely accessible, but they also store their footage on a cloud, meaning it’s uploaded to the web and stored should you ever need to view it. This is an indispensable and surprisingly affordable addition to your current alarm-based security system.
Speaking of alarms, the combination of an IP camera and app-based commands can help reduce false triggers. Most systems automatically alert authorities if triggered, whether or not the provider contacts you first. If, for example, you accidentally set your alarm to activate the motion detector and one of your pets triggers it, some counties and security providers (sometimes both) will actually charge you for the false call! Accessing an IP camera upon hearing a trigger alert and verifying whether an security breach is actually occurring, and deactivating – and reactivating, which is currently not possible with some alarm systems after false triggers – the alarm in the event of a false trigger can save you the $40 or so that’s usually charged by most security providers.
Finally, it’s important to remember that most of the technologies described here have overlapping functions; they save time and money, and are more convenient and efficient. Even security systems that are smarter can save you a little extra worry, freeing you to focus on the more important aspects of life. You’d be surprised how much money you can save, how much more time you can spend with your family, and how much more focus you can apply to your work with these simple additions. We’ll go into more detail next week on home technology, so don’t forget to keep up with us on Facebook and Twitter for more updates and info!
– Get It Right Solutions