Everything You Need to Know About Smart Home Technology
Recent years have seen a growing tendency to improve and optimize energy consumption, as pointed out in the safeatlast stats analysis, in individual households we can see this tendency to improve the best. This came about as a result of the need to cut expenses, especially in terms of energy bills, and optimize its consumption, as well as reduce the consequences of these actions by implementing more sustainable practices than can benefit the environment. One key effort in this direction has brought about the appearance of smart home technology.
What is a Smart Home?
Smart homes, or home automation technology is not one uniquely built system, but rather a variety of software and hardware combinations that aim to improve the overall homeowners experience. Nowadays, there are many instances of such networks that help homeowners connect all electric appliances in their home to a central system, and manage them accordingly.
It’s practically for anyone that has ever left the house with a nagging feeling that has them worrying whether they turned off the stove or not for the rest of the day. And while smart homes with orders given out to appliances were a thing of sci-fi movies or the filthy rich, the market has changed recently.
Today, people are able to purchase smart home solutions and have them installed in their place of residence at more affordable prices, saving money in the long term by using smart technology to reduce their energy bills and lower their insurance taxes all while saving the planet.
Working of Smart Home Tech
The underlying process may be somewhat complicated to an amateur looking to optimize their home. Nevertheless, understanding the operations these solutions run could give you significant insight into the mechanics.
Simply put, the central control of the system, be it an app, a specific remote or other mobile device, sends a signal containing specific orders, as illustrated:
- An alert to the system issuing the order;
- A form of ID to set out the specific device to which the order is directed;
- A code for the actual command, such as ‘turn on’ or ‘turn off’.
The code of the message which is transmitted contains these elements, and results in the particular action demanded through voice command, a specific button or otherwise.
Types of Smart Home Technology Solutions
1. Smart TVs
Once technology advances entered the area of television transmission, smart home possibilities kicked in as a consequence. The smart TVs are actually devices that can display content via apps or preloaded content, to a fully interactive experience between the user and the provider.
2. Smart Lighting
The smart lighting systems have a range of features, such as adjustment of brightness depending on the daylight present, customization based on user preferences, as well as voice or clap commands.
3. Smart Locks & Doors
Smart systems for all the locks and doors, including garages, have also been developed as part of the smart home technology. These enable the homeowners to check if their homes are locked, give an ‘unlock’ command when approaching the home, or even set the systems to detect movement and perform a command by identifying the user.
4. Security Cameras
Smart camera, surveillance, motion detection and overall residential security solutions allow homeowners a direct preview of all locations from a single app. Smart security systems often come with specific motion detectors that distinguish between home residents, pets, visitors and burglars, alerting authorities in case of suspicious activities.
5. Smart Kitchens
The smart kitchen technology usually focuses on optimizing energy consumption by ensuring all appliances are working properly. Smart refrigerators, per say, can monitor expiration dates, supply shopping lists or even generate recipes based on available groceries.
Salman Zafar is an ecopreneur, consultant, advisor, speaker and journalist with expertise in waste management, waste-to-energy, renewable energy, environment protection, conservation and sustainable development. His geographical areas of focus include Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe. Salman is the Founder of EcoMENA, a popular voluntary organization based in Qatar. He is also the Founder and CEO of BioEnergy Consult, a reputed consulting firm active in biomass, waste-to-energy and waste management segments.
Salman is a professional environmental writer with more than 350 popular articles to his credit. He is proactively engaged in creating mass environmental awareness in different parts of the world.
Salman Zafar can be reached at salman@ecomena.org or salman@bioenergyconsult.com
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