How to Save Energy With Your Smart Home (5 Easy Ways)

[@OntologicalQuandry]

Another great way to cut power usage is to use automations (SamrtThings lingo) to turn things off when you're away from home. Also, I have several routines set up to put on lighting and ensure lightning is turned off while I'm at home. I rarely have to touch a lightswitch but everything illuminates and shuts off just when it should. This could be particularly good for families where children are notorious for leaving things on.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Totally Alex! Actually one of my very favorites is just that!

[@OntologicalQuandry]

@@AutomateYourLife Despite having multiple SmartThings in my house (and increasing them in number) the automations have helped turn them off or keep them at the appropriote dimmer setting and keep my bills much lover than before I upgraded. Sounds like the same for you and well done with that!

[@oldmanvlogs-UK-PHP]

Thanks for the tips, I have a Terramaster Nas system which WAS on 24/7 running at 90w, I went into the settings and discovered that there was on and off timer settings, so now M-F comes on at 5pm and off at 11-59pm, S-S comes on at 9am and off 11-59pm

[@AutomateYourLife]

Oh man...did you just save a TON there. I love that!

[@chrisyerp174]

What I did was took my pannel apart. And installed amp clamps on the main legs from the breaker to give me precise amprage draw on the every leg of power whether it was a water heater or a lamp and outlet. This saved me hundreds so far lights dont do much your amp draw is mostly from electronic moters and heat strips so what I did for a whole summer was didn't run the ac at night saved me over $500 in one summer , main thang is target your main amperage offenders I have the little killawatt meter but that's just designed for a measly 20 amps cant measure the big stuff

[@AutomateYourLife]

CTs :)

[@jaynunes2501]

Brian, Thanks for the insightful tips. Nothing like checking a box on your TV and having it magically turned into beer and poutine!

[@AutomateYourLife]

Mmmmmm!!!😃😃😃😃. Thanks Jay!

[@daveschmarder-1950]

This is one of my favorite subjects. I measure the power of everything, especially the idle power. If I'm listening to something on my speaker, I don't care about the extra draw as that is transitory (c) Jerome Powell. :) My Nest Hub Max idles at 5.7 watts. That is why I only have one. But my little Google Hub is less than 2 watts. In other power news, over 6 months ago I bought my first Mac, a Mac Mini M1. I used to have m PC on all day, but now I have my Mac Mini on all day, and the PC is only on briefly now and then. My overall household electric usage went down by 25%. At present rates, my Mac Mini will be free in about 5 or 6 years, sooner as the rates rise. Each of those smart switches draw about 0.5 watts off, and almost a watt on. So using them on seldom used items might not be worth it. The wifi bulbs do use current at idle, but I forgot what the amount was. The power meter I use has one more decimal place than the usual Kill-A-Watt ones. This is helpful for the power we measure . My usage over 12 years ago was 250kWH or so. With other changes, including the Mac Mini, my usage is 140kWH per month. These are US watts, not metric ones, btw.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Great info! These are the things that get ya big time. Those speakers on my PC...I gotta ditch them and go simple and small. They're just too pricey!

[@AutomateYourLife]

And I'm so glad to have hit on a topic that you, a middle-aged boomer, are interested in! ;)

[@daveschmarder-1950]

@@AutomateYourLife Yep. It is a good activity. BTW, my new Zigbee mailbox sensor is working great. The Wyze one died.

[@houstonshomeautomation3524]

I'm still here Brian! I'm still inspired . Im still watching ! Just busy as all get out ! The power consumption has been an issue in my house as well. Honestly I was gonna look in to solar. But I need to put a magnifying glass to my smart home and see what's what ! I recently had to rebuild my entire smartthings home from scratch. 30 zigbee bulbs 3 locks hundreds of automatons and a shit ton of sensors deleted. I want to shoot smart things wifi ..... you warned me. Lesson learned

[@AutomateYourLife]

Hey man, good to hear from ya! Saw your pop up shop! Congrats and keep on rocking man. :)

[@desparky]

You guys have cheap power compared to here in Australia, but have you considered installing Roof Mounted Solar panels on your home? Even a small array could offset all of your "vampire drain" devices.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Welllllll we have a lot of charges on top of the power cost. It's about 1/5th of my bill at this point.

[@CharlesReiche]

OK OK, I shut down my NAS. I had a nest that was given to me, it worked for a while and then died. I went back to a programmable schedule thermostat. I work at home. I set it to where I might just be cold, and turn it up if I feel cold. Even though my house is now 100 years old, I'm mostly happy with the heating costs.

[@AutomateYourLife]

I couldn't believe how much that NAS was costing me! And yeah, the programmable ones can be good. Just a few degrees throughout the day can be worth it!

[@dwayneshaffer]

Awesome vid and I have been looking for ways to save on my electricity bill. I have lowered the brightness and volume on my smart speakers and displays. Thanks

[@AutomateYourLife]

Glad I could help Shaft! Nice to hear from ya!

[@TaylorQuade]

511kWh!!! Holy shit dude. I'm averaging 20 kWh during the summer in a 5 bedroom, 2 bath built in the 1910s.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Canadian winter + Content creator = a lot of use ;)

[@The_Independant_Pit]

Some nice tricks, but some of them have no return on investment potential and can't barely be recommended... Like investing in a power socket and a battery sensor to save less then 10$ a year and the realizing the sensor consume batteries. Also sound device even playing full blast isn't using nominal wattage. Also lights should not be calculated on a 12h average, as we should sleep at night generally, so 8 or 9hours maybe. I think the focus should be on the most meanningful things. HVAC, water heating management have reel impact. For the small onesI liked the ones that are within the devices possibilities already otherwise your effectively losing time trying to earn some. Still good job !

[@AutomateYourLife]

Yeah I probably coulda dropped the time a bit on the light usage to be exact. It's just an example, but I hope you go save some money now!

[@EsotericArctos]

That's a significant amount of power you are using each month. In some ways that is a side effect of so many devices the use a small amount of power all the time, even when turned "off". I did find that some smart bulbs are much more efficient dimmed than others, and as much as I hate it, Philips Hue are some of the best for power efficiency when dimmed. I am not sure they offset the cost of purchasing the devices though..... I think there is huge potential to make savings, but you have to be careful which devices you purchase as some can actually cost more due to standby power and inefficient dimming.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Lots of it for me is the HVAC in the winter. -20 C average around here for about 4-5 months and -10 C for another 2-3 months is a lot of heating. Any inefficient windows for housing materials and it can get downright ugly! Otherwise, I was so surprised as I measured everything how little was actually being spent with most of my appliances and small electronics. Very impressed actually.

[@garethjones5068]

The energy prices in the UK are going through the roof at the moment, my bills have doubled & that’s pretty average right now, I got lazy with my smart home for a year or so but I’m back on with it now to try minimise my costs

[@AutomateYourLife]

I think it's about the same here man...our government put in carbon tax that shot up all the prices by 25% at least. I think more

[@garethjones5068]

@@AutomateYourLife A bunch of the energy companies have gone bust in the UK so there’s fewer & fewer providers to shop around too

[@AutomateYourLife]

@@garethjones5068 that's really scary...tells ya why power and basic needs like that probably shouldn't be driven by profit

[@garethjones5068]

@@AutomateYourLife The problem of them going bust that the UK government introduced a price cap to help consumers but in effect it made being a provider a tough gig hence fewer providers & thus less competition

[@AutomateYourLife]

🤦🤦

[@konyks6196]

Hey, great video! Could you share with us this "smart bulb and power vs percent requested" graph?

[@AutomateYourLife]

The one I showed? Whatcha hoping to do with it?

[@ronm6585]

Thanks Brian. Good information sir.

[@AutomateYourLife]

You bet sir! Thanks!

[@taranagnew436]

is there a chart with speaker/smart speaker volume power usage (on different brands)?

[@AutomateYourLife]

In the two ebooks for Google and Amazon speakers on our shop! Yep! Google - shop.automatelife.net/products/google-home-speaker-guide Amazon - shop.automatelife.net/products/amazonspeakerguide

[@lany_07gaming]

Great info and great save.👍

[@AutomateYourLife]

Thanks Lany! I hope it saves you a few bucks!

[@lmorgan1509]

Great information as always 👍

[@AutomateYourLife]

Thanks King Louie the 1509th! ;) 👍

[@martymctry20]

Did you test the power consumption of your Smart Plug Bars? My Sonoff WIFI switches flashed with tasmota go from 0.3W idle to about 1W in ON state.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Yep. Smart Plugs on average use 0.3 W and some of the bars used up to 1.2 Watts

[@martymctry20]

@@AutomateYourLife Thanks ;)

[@Hecheva64]

Don't all smart gadgets consume energy even when not in use?

[@AutomateYourLife]

Very small amounts yes. On average, 0.3 W at any given time is used as extra power.

[@OscarHanzely]

Complains about $150/month power bill. Proceeds to show saving of $4/year. LOL I think this video should have started with some temperature, AC adjustments or room temp sensors. That’s where you can save something. Saving $4/year may pay for the bulb in 3 years but it’s just not going to move that needle significantly.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Remember that time you watched the first part of a video then commented? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

[@CCCC-tq8yo]

Ur luck I use 2500 k

[@patriciawirry818]

I'll bet your biggest monthly cost is government (taxes) and no doubt government is working on ways to further jack up your electric bill. We better put our heads together and come up with a way to power our lives with small pinwheels.

[@AutomateYourLife]

No problem. Pinwheels and merry go rounds

[@jamesw4265]

Never use to worry about energy cost until Biden became president…LGB

[@AutomateYourLife]

Power bills in Canada are insane right now. Absolutely nuts.

[@CCCC-tq8yo]

I'm a dog

[@tolqar6563]

Don't blame Biden, blame the companies. If I can blame a president I can blame trump for safety while I lived in China.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Things are Ruff

[@evlnte]

Political discourse is valuable when it is based on facts and yet it rarely is. Most inflationary forces were well already underway at the end of the Trump presidency. Also, parts shortages were already under way from climate-related events, resource shortages, tariffs and then covid happened. The virus, the conservatives said was "just a bad cold", caused further disruptions and shortages. Then a new guys takes charge and everything inherited is "his" fault. Ignoring climate change, ignoring outsourced production, ignoring political rivals (or playing into their end-game) caused all this.