Are you looking to get with the times and turn your regular home into a smart home? If so, this article is just what you need. In it you’ll learn all about the 5 basic elements of home automation, no matter where you are in your smart home journey.
Photo by Sebastian Scholz (Nuki) on Unsplash
Connected homes, smart homes, automated homes or domotic homes—call them what you want but don’t deny that they aren’t shaping the future, today. From motorized blinds to self-activating thermostats, here are the 5 elements every home needs to have to truly be considered a smart one.
1. Lighting Systems
Often the first step people take to make their home a smart one is to ditch their old school switch lights and replace them with smart lighting systems. Whether you opt for a Bluetooth controlled system or choose to control all lights via an app on your smartphone is up to you.
Besides making your home go up a smart level, smart lighting systems come with the following big benefits:
- Decreased energy consumption: With smart lighting systems, you are able to control every aspect of your energy consumption. You’ll never again have to stress about which lights are on and how much heat is being emitted as you’ll have all of that data at your fingertips.
- Convenience: Everything about smart lighting is linked to your convenience. Why should you have to worry about going from room to room, switching off lights as you go?
- Enhanced home security: Think motion-activated floodlights at entry points, illumination on key access points and never having to wonder “did I switch the outside lights on before hopping into bed?” ever again.
2. Security Cameras
If security cameras form part of your defence system, congratulations you’re already on the path to having a smart home! These days, home security systems are so smart that you can remotely view your property from your smartphone.
Security cameras are considered to be an essential part of smart homes. Indoor home security cameras allow you to keep tabs on what happens in your home so you can keep a watchful eye on your children or pets while you’re at work. Outdoor security cameras are also a known crime deterrent.
3. Motorized Blinds
Forget about the days of yanking chains and pulling on chords to let light in & out of your home becaus motorized blinds are here to stay. As the name suggests, motorized blinds are blinds that are opened and closed by means of a motor instead of your own two hands.
Motorized blinds are practical, attractive, easy to use, increase your home’s safety and help make your home smarter & more convenient. What could be smarter than programming your blinds to open or close at a certain time of day or to control your blinds via your smartphone? The most popular types of motorized blinds include the following:
- Electric roller blinds
- Motorised outdoor blinds
- Fold arm awnings
- Electric patio blinds
- Motorised Roman blinds
4. Door Locks
Another smart security defence, smart locks are electromechanical locks that lock and unlock on command using wireless protocol & a cryptographic key. Most of the time these locks look just like regular locks but they are far from regular.
Above and beyond allowing you to lock & unlock your home from the comfort of your bed or remotely from your desk at work, smart locks can:
- Monitor access and report on access attempts
- Allow you to send E-keys to friends or house sitters while you’re on holiday
- Provide those who struggle with traditional locks with easy access capabilities (think Parkinson’s Disease patients, those with severe arthritis, cerebral palsy or sufferers of fibromyalgia)
5. Thermostats
Energy conservation is a concern of any responsible citizen of the world. That’s why so many have handed their home heating and cooling requirements over to smart thermostats. With smart thermostats, you can control the temperature of every room in your house at any point of the day or night via your smartphone, laptop or tablet.
Plus, you can schedule temperatures to self-activate as and when necessary, track the time that your HVAC has been running or record internal and external temperatures. You can even be alerted as to when your air filters need changing.
Final Thoughts
And there you have it: the 5 elements that every smart home needs. By 2022, the home automation industry is set to be valued at $53.5 billion. Soon, smart homes won’t go by the name “smart homes” anymore but instead they’ll be known simply as “homes” so you may as well hop aboard the home automation train now.
The list of benefits that come from having a smart home is a long one. Unsurpassed convenience, endless customisation options, increased security & incomparable peace of mind are just a few of the many benefits of smart homes. After reading this, we trust you’re ready to take the plunge into making your home a smart one. After all, it’s the smart thing to do.
