Embracing smart home technology could not only elevate your living space but also contribute to a more sustainable lifestyle. Learn how these smart home gadgets can help you achieve connectivity and environmental friendliness in your home.
1. Utilize Smart Thermostats
Embrace a tech-savvy, sustainable lifestyle with a smart thermostat. Smart thermostats offer a tech upgrade to traditional home heating systems with features that help better manage a home’s energy consumption. With one, you can precisely control your home’s temperature while minimizing energy waste and reducing your carbon footprint.
Maximize sustainability with the tips for using this device below.
Take advantage of the scheduling features.
Smart thermostats allow you to create customized schedules based on your daily routines. Set it up with your preferences and schedule – for example, in the summer, setting the thermostat to be cooler at night while you’re relaxing in bed, and warmer while you’re away at the office. The personalized heating and cooling plan will help conserve energy when you’re away and keep you comfortable when at home.
Embrace the remote access functions.
Adjust the temperature, set schedules, and monitor your home’s climate whenever you’re away through the smartphone app. Download the app for your particular device, so you can control it even when you’re not there. Before leaving for the day, use the app to set the thermostat to “Away,” so it uses less energy while you’re out.
Take a look at your energy usage insights.
Many smart thermostats provide a home energy audit on your household’s energy usage. Regularly check these insights and data to see how you’re doing and make any necessary adjustments.
Integrate your smart thermostat with the other devices in your home.
Smart thermostats can often be integrated with other smart home devices and digital assistants like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. Take advantage of these smart home automations for voice control and a cohesive, interconnected household ecosystem.
2. Add Smart Lighting Systems
Energy.gov states that residential lighting accounts for approximately 15% of home electricity use. Fortunately, smart lighting can help reduce this usage.
Smart lighting systems connect to the internet, ensuring you can remotely control and monitor the lighting in your home via smartphone, tablet, or digital assistant. You can also program them to operate on schedules or react to certain triggers through motion sensors.
For instance, if you’d like to turn off your lights from 9-5 while you’re away to work and the kids are off to school, you can do just that. You could even program motion sensors to turn on the lights when someone enters a room and vice versa.
Utilize the timers, scheduling systems, motion sensors, and brightness adjustment features equipped on many of these devices. Doing so can minimize ecological impact, lower carbon dioxide emissions, and save money on your energy bill.
3. Go Eco-Friendly with LED Bulbs
LED (Light Emitting Diode) lightbulbs have gained a lot of popularity in recent years. They use up to 90% less energy than traditional light bulbs and last up to 25 times longer, making their initial upfront cost worth it.
LED lightbulbs directly convert electricity into light, producing very little heat. On the other hand, traditional bulbs rely on heating a filament to do the same job, wasting a significant portion of their energy as heat.
So, if you’re still using incandescent light bulbs, consider this: the average household can save energy costs by about $225 annually with LED lighting, making it one of the fastest ways to cut your energy bills. Just be sure to select LED bulbs compatible with the smart lighting system and connection points you want to use.
4. Streamline Energy Control with Digital Assistants
Enter the world of seamless automation with digital assistants like Apple Home or Google Assistant. These powerful smart speakers can help you achieve an energy-efficient home design by controlling various home appliances, electronics, and systems. Forgot to turn off the TV or the coffee maker? No worries! Say a voice command and your digital assistant will handle it for you.
By integrating your smart lighting systems, appliances, electronics, and smart thermostats into a smart home sustainability ecosystem, you can actively manage your energy consumption. Who wouldn’t want to create a sustainable routine that’s as simple as uttering a few words?
5. Use a Smart Power Strip
Do you regularly keep your televisions plugged up and on standby? Or maybe you leave your smartphone to charge throughout the night, even when it reaches 100%.
When electronics and appliances are turned off but still plugged in, they may still use energy and drain power. Fortunately, if you’re looking for a budget-friendly way to tackle ‘vampire drain’ and reduce your home’s electrical demand, smart power strips are a great place to start.
Smart strips cut power supply to connected devices on standby, reducing their energy usage to zero. They may also monitor and identify your main energy-draining culprits so you can make adjustments.
Furthermore, most smart plugs can be programmed. Timers prevent you from using more energy than you need while connecting to digital assistants can ensure responsible power usage through voice commands. Energy-efficient homes often take advantage of all these features!
6. Consider Other Household Sustainability Techniques
Now that you’re embracing the tech side of sustainability, remember that your home’s eco-friendly transformation doesn’t have to end at smart devices. Consider adding sustainability piece by piece with gently used furniture from CORT Furniture Outlet – from beds to dining room sets!
By opting for pre-loved furniture, you extend the lifespan of these pieces, reducing demand for new furniture and saving resources. Additionally, our gently used furniture pieces have been refurbished or repaired, further reducing waste and diverting items from landfills.
Not only does CORT Outlet’s second-hand furniture contribute to the circular economy, but it also offers unique and stylish pieces that can add character to your home. You’ll be surprised at how a well-chosen, stylish piece can become the focal point of your living space.
Become More Eco-Friendly at CORT Furniture Outlet
When you’re focused on improving the sustainability of your home, every little contribution can help, including your furniture! When you shop at CORT Furniture Outlet, you can help extend the life of well-made furniture and keep perfectly good pieces out of the landfill.
CORT Clean Certified™ products mean you can purchase with confidence: every item at CORT Furniture Outlet has been inspected by CORT-trained professionals for cleanliness and structural integrity. Additionally, you can purchase knowing that while you get to enjoy low prices, those products are built in a timeless style that you can enjoy for years to come. Shop online or in-store at your local CORT Furniture Outlet today and enjoy prices up to 70% off retail!
