Want your home to be a little greener? Try these small updates, and make your home a smart home in no time.
Not everyone is in love with technology or interested in installing new electronic gadgets, but it’s hard to resist the allure of a reduced carbon footprint and lower electric bills. Smart home technology can provide both kinds of ‘green’ for busy homeowners, with just a few small changes around the house. Add some motion-sensitive light switches and a few solar-powered outdoor lighting to make your home a little smarter, and a little greener, every day.
Switch Your Switches – Get Motion Sensitive
Motion-sensing light switches are a quick and easy way to ‘smarten’ up your home without heavy electrical work. If you aren’t up to installing a new light switch, some of the motion-sensing switches are really simple – just plug the motion-sensing switch into a regular electrical outlet, and plug a lamp into the switch.
Switching to motion-sensitive switches for low-traffic areas can really save on your electric bill, as well as reducing the wear on your light bulbs. When someone gets up and leaves the room, the switch turns the light off automatically after a few minutes. No more, “Whoops, I left the light on!” moments, or frantic rounds of the house before leaving, to turn off all the lights. Not only is this more convenient, it translates into lower electric bills.
Solar Power For Outdoor Lighting
Use solar-powered lights outside to save electricity and improve your home’s security. By setting up motion-sensing outdoor spotlights near entrances, it’s easy to tell when someone is at the door at night-time. Solar lights require no real set-up, and since they’re powered by the sun, so there’s no wiring to worry about. Just make sure the power cells are in an area where they’re exposed to the sun for a good deal of the day, so the lights will have enough power to shine all night if needed. Once the power cells are all charged up, your solar-powered spotlights will be ready to shed some light on any situation.
Smart Home, Smart Budget
When you make these few simple changes, whether you call your upgrades a step toward a “Smart Home” or a “Green Home,” your budget will thank you. Motion-sensitive light switches keep the power off when they’re not being used, and solar lights outdoors have no impact on your electricity usage at all, but provide great illumination to improve your home security. With a relatively low up-front cost, these little gadgets can really make a difference when it comes to your monthly power bill.
