Homemation: Smart Tech to Monitor & Manage Energy Consumption at Home

The future is now with home automation – where the seamless integration of technology revolutionizes the way we interact with our living spaces. Smart homes are rewriting the rules of convenience, comfort, and efficiency, reshaping the very fabric of modern living.

The average consumer now possesses many more small and medium-sized appliances and electrical products in their homes than ever before. These are designed to make homes simpler than ever. However with Homemation, syncing them, charging them, and ensuring they are connected and functioning without constant checking can be a drag. The emergence of home automation, or the aptly named ‘smart home’ technology, has addressed the need to manage these devices simply and efficiently.

The need to save and allocate energy in homes across South Africa, and a desire to possibly be greener or more economical with our power, has further increased interest in this smart tech

What most homes need is a centralised way of controlling their energy use. Enter systems like Control4, a powered system controller— or the brain of your home—distributed by Homemation in South Africa, which assists thousands of homes all over the world with its smart home operating system to operate intelligently and efficiently, not only saving electricity and running costs but also prolonging the life of devices and saving on maintenance.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways systems like Control4 can help you better manage your energy usage in your home.

Back up energy management – it’s fair to say that solar back-up systems are the most popular ways to keep the lights on when our friends at Eskom can’t. Control4 has the ability to integrate to your Victron or Sunsynk invertors so that you can keep an eye on what’s going on. With the information such as electricity feed, battery state and energy usage, theses ‘brain systems’ can automatically adjust settings in your home to run more efficiently when needed, by limiting the temperature range of air conditioners, dimming important lights, and turning off any unnecessary lights, turning off all non-critical devices. And, of course, powering them up again when you are back on the national grid power.

Occupancy – Why have devices on when you aren’t even in a room? By integrating motion sensors or some other form of presence sensing, smart tech can make sure to turn off your lights, aircons, audio visual system and any other devices you or even the kids may have left. This can include air purifiers or humidifiers. When you come back into the room, Control4 can set the room back up so that you don’t have to. By further expanding the system, whole home settings can be applied, so things like water features and underfloor heating systems are controlled on the system and used only when necessary. In addition, clever ‘brain’ systems integrate into many of the popular alarm systems, which in turn allows the home to respond to any threats and even add to the level of security by means of incorporating lighting, cameras, and even audio-visual systems as part of the security information and response protocol. With Control4, you can be confident that your security needs are covered.

Optimised energy – In advanced homes which have deployed Control4 as their smart home operating system, the products in the homework in unison with the outdoors, improving energy efficiency and personal wellbeing. For example, when its light out, you need the indoor lighting less, but in areas when task lighting is important, the control system could ensure you always have enough light. Essentially the system balances between artificial and natural light, even when the conditions change. A similar concept applies with automated shades and temperature control, whereas if the sun is beaming through a window, and the air conditioner is trying to cool the room, the shades can be closed to allow the air conditioner to work a bit less.

In conclusion, home automation systems serve as a pivotal solution in managing the increasing number of electrical devices in homes, aligning with the need for simplicity, efficiency, and eco-conscious living. This ensures uninterrupted power during outages while optimising energy consumption through intelligent adjustments. Ultimately, ensuring your home is smarter not only contributes to cost savings but also extends the lifespan of devices, reducing maintenance expenses and exemplifying the evolution towards clever, sustainable homes.