Many companies are enhancing age-old products like double glazing to make them more energy efficient, which saves the consumer money whilst also attracting a new angle of revenue for the producer
Technology has been changing the way we live our lives, how we interact, how we speak to other people and how comfortable we are in our own homes. In the last 10 years alone there have been some remarkable breakthroughs in technology that have allowed us to far exceed the expectations of generations before us.
There are thousands of convenient pieces of technology that we use every day including mobile phones and tablet devices, laptops, improvements to the internet and even technology for vehicles that allows you to lower your insurance premiums. However, sometimes it is the simple things that are that bit more satisfying; things that enhance the monotonous or perhaps ‘un-considered’ elements of our lives.
Whilst some of these types of technology are lowering various prices and costs, for example, the explosion in High Definition (HD) televisions, laptops and even mobile phones has meant that overall prices for many of these items has fallen as the competition has got tougher, making it far better for consumers and potential buyers.
Here are our top 3 ‘everyday’ gadgets that every home should consider installing.
Smart technology is available in homes and properties around the world from the USA and Canada (as is the case for many new build properties in the Vaughan region) to Europe and the UK and beyond, and these types of technology are becoming increasingly common.
Hot Taps
Boiling the kettle and waiting for your cup of tea or coffee, hot water bottle or all else usually takes around 5 minutes. You go through the process each time. Fill the kettle, plug it in, turn it on, wait, use up the water, repeat. Whilst this may not seem like a big deal, there are quicker, easier and more energy efficient ways to go about having piping hot water in our home.
Hot taps are easily installed systems that are fixed in place of the tap in your home and look pretty much the same as a normal tap however, the difference is that at the touch of a button, due to the technology beneath the tap, you get instant hot water; no waiting around and no boiling the kettle. Part of what makes these taps so appealing and increasingly popular is that they save a huge amount of energy, costing around 3p per day to use, helping to reduce your bills.
Previous designs sometimes required two taps; one for cold and one for hot water. However, modern designs integrate this all into one clever tap. This allows a space-saving and convenient solution to having to wait for a kettle to boil. With kettles being a huge consumer of household energy, these taps go a long way and are very easily installed.
Remote CCTV
There is nothing new about having close circuit television (CCTV) cameras in and around your property. However, it is a modern-day phenomenon that not only can the cameras provide HD quality and even night vision technology to allow you to record in the dark, but you can remotely watch the footage this includes rewinding and live streaming of the footage.
These cameras once installed can be overt or covert and once synchronised with your iPhone or Android device can be accessed through a handy app. Over cameras are particularly useful, with effective security systems proven to reduce a property’s appeal to burglars. What’s more, is that some of these camera-app solutions allow for motion detection and will alert you when movement is detected in the room where the camera is situated.
Covert cameras can be particularly useful for people who have babysitters for their children and want to check everything is ok as well as for those who simply want to have a monitored security solution for their home.
Remote Thermostats
High energy bills are a normal part of so many households who simply accept that to stay warm when they like, they must accept higher bills for their continued use. However, whilst it is impossible for us to influence the prices provided by energy providers, smart metres and smart thermostats can go a long way in reducing the bills you have to pay.
The way many of these metres work once they are installed and integrated with your central heating or climate control system is via wireless technology. You can control the climate and temperature in your home via an app on your mobile phone or tablet device. The way in which this helps you save energy is as follows.
Say you go out in the morning and are not planning to be home until 6pm. You set the heating clock in the morning to turn off just before you leave the house at 8.30am and go back on at 5.45, just before you return home. However, you need to stay later at work and only get home at 9pm, leaving you with a nicely heated house that has served nobody as your home was totally empty.
With a remotely controlled thermostat, you could simply change the time that the heating goes on and starts to heat the property to say 8.45pm. this would mean that you save 3 hours of energy and potentially a fair bit of money over time. Furthermore, if the opposite happens and you are going to be home early, you can change the time of the heating system to reflect that. In time, you will therefore be able to only heat the property when you need to and any errors in setting the heating clock can be easily rectified.
