5 Smart Devices For A Greener Home

Smart home devices not only add stylish convenience to your life, but also save you money and lower your carbon footprint. So what can you use to achieve this in your own home today? From small additions such as smart bulbs, to bigger changes such as solar batteries, here are a few smart devices that can make your home ready for the green revolution…

1. Smart switches and adaptors

When it comes to exciting smart home devices, smart switches and adaptors aren’t exactly glamorous additions. However, they can make a surprising difference.

Smart switches can be installed at certain power outlets or light switch slots in your home. This gives you control over the devices that they connect to. Meanwhile, smart adaptors are a more low-tech solution as you can simply plug them into an existing outlet.

It’s their app and internet connectivity, however, that make these relatively simple devices incredibly useful in controlling your energy usage. With a system such as the Voltex Smart Touch range, you can automate, schedule and remotely switch off wasteful appliances and lights from within a mobile phone app.

2. Smart sprinkler system

South Africa’s water shortages have put residential water usage squarely into the public eye. But if you don’t have a grey or rain water system for your garden, is there another way to do your part to save water?

That’s where smart irrigation and sprinkler hubs come in. Watering your garden with these systems takes out the guesswork. They can set timers, track usage and monitor the output of your irrigation system.

The latest systems also keep track of the weather and soil moisture, delaying scheduled watering depending on the conditions.

3. Beyond batteries

Elon Musk’s Tesla is better known for its cars and Powerwall batteries, but it’s also been working on roof tiles that double up as solar panels in recent years. The first home with a Tesla roof was finished in April, and while Tesla tiles are still a bit pricey, if the tech catches on they could be an ideal way to go off-grid.

4. Get more sun

Do you find yourself turning the lights on at home during the day? Caia is a smart mirror device which sits on a windowsill and moves with the sun to direct natural rays into your rooms. Initial production of Caia has been funded through the crowdsourcing website Indiegogo, but it’s hoped that a full commercial release of the product will happen soon.

5. Smart geysers

We’re all familiar with solar geysers, but what about smart geysers? They make this energy-saving technology even more powerful, thanks to their ability to give you up-to-the-second information about energy use, water temperature and more.

Smart geysers provide a hub from which you can control your geyser, including its temperature and scheduled periods of inactivity.
This gives you a real view of how your water heating chews up electricity, giving you the information you need to make some real changes.