With rising cost-of-living pressures combined with soaring energy prices, apartment owners and bodies corporate are looking at ways to reduce their bills.
An easy way to save money on bills is to look closely at how much energy you’re using.
Smart tech doesn’t just make your apartment and building more convenient but helps you save money by reducing your energy costs as well.
From smart lightbulbs, sprinklers, thermostats and plugs let’s take a look at how smart devices can help you and your body corporate save money around the home.
APARTMENT OWNERS
Smart plugs
‘Phantom’ or ‘vampire’ energy is when electrical appliances suck power even when they aren’t in use.
If you’re looking to make your home’s biggest energy hogs more efficient, smart plugs are the way to go.
Smart plugs allow devices to be operated on a timer or manually via a smartphone app and be programmed to cut the power when the device isn’t in use.
Smart plugs are a relatively inexpensive way to boost the efficiency of your existing light bulbs, devices and appliances.
Smart thermostats
The average Australian household’s energy used for heating and cooling their home can account for as much as 50 per cent of their energy bill.
SMART thermostats allow you to remotely control your air-conditioning systems and even customise different room’s temperature settings.
This is a great way to reduce your bills by making sure your home is only heated or cooled when you’re actually there to reap the benefits.
Smart thermostats can learn precisely how long it takes for a room to reach your preferred temperature, therefore, maximising the amount of time they can spend in energy-saving modes.
Smart light bulbs
Lighting accounts a significant percentage (usually 10 per cent) of the average household’s electricity bill.
An easy energy-saving smart home solution is to convert your regular light bulbs to smart bulbs.
Smart bulbs can be remotely controlled, motion activated and automated which means you don’t have to worry about forgetting to turn them off when you exit a room. Additionally, if there is sufficient daylight, sensors automatically dim or switch off smart lightbulbs
Smart bulbs are also LEDs, which use up to 75 per cent less energy than incandescent globes and last five to 10 times longer, greatly reducing replacement costs and the number of light bulbs ending up in landfill.
Smart ceiling fans
ceiling fans are a cost-effective alternative to keep cool. You can make them even more efficient by installing smart fans fitted with motion sensors so they’ll only spin when they detect someone in the room.
Smart shades and blinds
Windows are a big source of heat transfer in your home, particularly if you have single-glazed glass.
Smart blinds operate on a schedule and can be programmed to open or close depending on how much light you want to allow into your home.
They can also be set up so that they automatically close when your windows start heating up.
Smart fridges
Smart fridges not only help you to save on power but can also help you monitor and prevent food wastage.
Smart fridges have internal cameras linked to your smartphone so you can see what’s inside, even when you’re not home. This allows you to reduce the amount of food waste you produce. You can also track items’ expiry dates.
Smart energy monitors
A home energy monitoring system can be installed anywhere in your house and will automatically send detailed, real-time information about appliance energy consumption straight to your phone.
Being able to see a clear report of how much power you’re using on a day-to-day basis, and which appliances are adding the most to your energy bills, will give you a clearer idea of where your energy leaks are and how to manage them.
BODY CORPORATE
There has been a significant change in technology with “smarter” devices now being installed into apartment blocks. More equipment is using sensors, connecting to the internet and providing real-time monitoring information back to strata committees to help them better manage their buildings.
10 smart devices for apartment buildings:
- Electricity Monitoring Devices
- Water Monitoring Devices
- Smart Irrigation Systems
- CO Sensors for carpark fans
- Solar Monitoring Systems
- Electric Vehicle Charging Cloud-billing
- Emergency Lighting systems with online compliance reporting
- Carpark entry lighting system with wireless network
- Smart thermostats
- Blockchain energy trading for solar and batteries
What benefits can smart technology offer strata communities?
strata technology allows a building to be more efficient, more economical and more convenient.
Similar to the building having a brain, smart tech allows tasks to be automated and become more responsive to residents’ needs. It enables better security, monitoring and increased efficiency in power and waste management.
power monitoring enables a strata committee to understand how and where a building draws its power. It also has benefits for of repairs and maintenance, with sensors and monitoring enabling strata committees to be alerted to potential problems and have them tended to long before they become costly repairs.
Features like automated lighting and smart HVAC then ensure the building is more liveable, using sensors to respond to the activities of residents by activating lights, cooling or ventilation when required and depending on the external environment.
For example, come 10pm, the mood of the building might change lighting-wise, offering a quieter more ambient environment for residents and guests.
And this in turn has energy efficiency benefits.
