Why Home Automation?

As more and more regulations come into force requiring that new buildings achieve certain criteria regarding carbon dioxide emissions, the argument for installing a control system into a house is shifting towards the benefits of being energy efficient.

In order for us to help our clients make a change towards a greener, cleaner environment and reap the benefits of lower utility bills, we need to understand which factors can bring about a reduction in energy consumption.

Energy Monitoring

Most people get their energy bill on a monthly or quarterly basis by which time there is no link between specific activities and energy consumed. In a study carried out by the University of Bath, it was found that of all the feedback groups, the installation of computers to monitor energy use helped reduce consumption most markedly. Furthermore, people with positive environmental attitudes, but who had not previously been engaged in many conservation actions, were more likely to change their consumption subsequent to the feedback period.

This would be a good start, but does not go far enough as the onus is on the occupants to turn off appliances, lights or heating when not required.

Climate

In the UK, heating accounts for 61% of the average annual bill, making it a prime candidate to try and achieve savings. The same can be said of cooling in the warmer climes. The optimal condition in a room requires an understanding of the relationship between temperature, humidity and circulation of air. Getting this balance right can normally be implemented directly from our home automation system without the need for third party thermostats installed by the HVAC contractor or bolting an additional layer of control onto the system in the form of LonWorks or Modbus.

Lighting

It is well publicized by the lighting control manufactures what sort of energy savings can be achieved by installing their products, but a home automation system can milk these savings further by adjusting lighting levels according to the amount of ambient light, ensuring lights are off when the room or house becomes unoccupied to simply opening blinds or curtains to achieve the desired level of light.

Standby Power

By the middle of the decade, standby power had risen to, typically, 10% of the average households energy use. To put this into context, a microwave oven that spends 99% of the time in standby can use more power to drive its digital display than it does to cook food. This needless waste can easily be reduced  with a few relays and bring about a real saving on utility bills, preventing tons of carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere.

So why home automation?

It just makes sense.

New builds in the future will be required to reduce their consumption by some means. We should take the time now to learn the skill sets required to ensure our industry is a dominant player in the future market place.