How to Save Money and Energy With Smart-Home Devices Wirecutter

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Advice, staff picks, mythbusting, and more. Let us help you. Share this postSaveSmart-home devices don’t just make it easier to close the garage door or secure your home. They can also help you save energy and money, if you use them properly. And seeing how , people can use all the help they can get. You set up smart-home devices using a smartphone, and you can control them remotely, put them on a schedule, connect them to a smart speaker, or even set them up to perform actions on their own. By giving you more control over the things in your home that use energy, smart-home devices can be part of an energy-saving plan. Here are a few ways to use smart-home devices to cut down on energy and water waste while also saving money.

To turn off lights

When someone in my house leaves the lights on, I can almost feel my energy bill going up. (Maybe it’s just my blood pressure.) Smart lighting foils energy hogs by adding remote control, scheduling, and automation to an everyday fixture. are the simplest way to save money because all you have to do is screw in a light bulb. And all smart bulbs are LED bulbs, which use at least than incandescents yet last 25 times longer. They also bring extra savings by adding dimming, which can . Smart bulbs can trigger in reaction to other smart devices, motion sensors, or your location (aka geofencing), so they’ll operate efficiently without you having to turn them off. We like the line, which offers a number of smart-bulb kits for both inside and outside the home. You can configure Philips Hue smart bulbs to work with a host of other devices. Another option, for the person who knows how to wire an outlet, is a , which replaces your existing light switch to control lighting fixtures. My husband leaves in the dark every morning, so we use a (Wirecutter’s upgrade pick) to automatically make sure he has a lighted path—and then turn it off when he’s gone, so it doesn’t stay lit all day. If you’re clinging to the bulbs and switches you already own, a tackles the same on/off and scheduling functions for lamps and small appliances, and you can still add regular . A smart plug offers an inexpensive way to control lights: Our favorite, the , costs under $30 per lamp. Smart plugs are also great for controlling holiday lights.

These smart-home devices don’t need permanent installation, so you can take them with you when you move.

Take these steps to protect your home from mishaps and intruders when you leave for vacation.

To conserve water

According to the , everyday household leaks account for about 1 trillion gallons of wasted water annually. That’s equivalent to over 1,500 Olympic-size swimming pools. Adding a is an easy way to monitor under sinks, behind toilets, around washing machines, and other potentially leaky points. When the sensor detects a leak, it sends a smartphone alert so you can tend to the issue before things get out of hand. A smart leak detector can catch small leaks before they become floods. If you want more comprehensive control, or if you have a second home, the and the are smart water valves that install on your water main and can sense and alert you to leaks as small as a drippy faucet. When they detect a burst pipe or cycling toilet, they can turn off the water to prevent a catastrophe. You can learn more about smart water valves in . can control water waste outside by regulating the amount you use to irrigate your lawn or garden, based on your specific soil moisture and even plant types. We recommend the because it uses hyper-local Web-based weather information to adjust schedules automatically, so you won’t be one of those people who water their lawn right before (or during) a rainstorm. If you don’t have an in-ground sprinkler system, a works for standard sprinklers or soaker hoses.

To curb cooling and heating

The says that the largest single use of electricity by US households is in fans and air conditioning, with some households spending more than $525 a year. A optimizes your home’s heating and cooling so that you never waste electricity or fuel. Our pick, the , is a learning thermostat that can automatically adjust temperatures to optimal levels based on your habits, the location, and the time it takes to cool your home. When you leave home, it adjusts the temperature so you aren’t blasting the AC or heat all day. And it turns the system back on before you get home, so in the summer you don’t arrive to an oven (and regret being energy-conscious). If you don’t have central air, either a or a standard window unit with a smart plug can give you additional control so you’re not wasting cool air when no one is home to appreciate it. A smart ceiling fan can be another great option. The says ceiling fans let you raise thermostats about 4 degrees without noticing a difference. And smart fans like those from and include motion sensors so they run only when you’re in the room; they can also integrate with a thermostat to maximize savings (note that we haven’t tested such models yet). Or, instead of going for a smart fan, consider the , which works with (it requires the ) and can respond to triggers from an app or other smart devices such as thermostats or temperature sensors. And if a ceiling fan just isn’t a good fit, a with a can be an easy and affordable option too. A lot of heat passes through windows, resulting in overheating in the summer and , although expensive to install, can make it easier. Set either at specific times or on schedules, smart shades and blinds (by companies such as , , and ) can open and close to allow light (and energy) to pass though only when you want it. We plan to review this category soon.

Kill vampire power

Many electrical appliances and gadgets—including computer speakers, TVs, coffee makers, and more—continue to draw power even when they aren’t in use, a phenomenon referred to as phantom or “vampire” energy. According to a 2016 article in (Wirecutter’s parent company), the annual tally for all these vampires is the equivalent of 50 large power plants’ worth of electricity. Smart plugs like our pick the (and most of our other smart plug picks) monitor, in real time, the energy use of any device you plug in. If you need to power several things, you can try a smart power strip like the , which can track up to six devices individually. Just plug in whichever energy hog you wish—your old plasma TV, an audio system, a space heater—and schedule the strip to cut the power completely when the device isn’t in use. The individual cost savings won’t be dramatic, but along with other energy savings, they will add up.

Sources

1. Chris Mooney, , The Washington Post, March 17, 2015 2. , Energy Resource Center, October 29, 2013 3. , Lamps Plus 4. , United States Environmental Protection Agency 5. , United States Department of Energy 6. , United States Department of Energy

Mentioned above

Further reading

by Rachel Cericola If you want to make the jump from dull lighting to smart lighting, here are some easy ways to get started.

by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy A smart Wi-Fi thermostat puts your climate-control system on autopilot, making it easier to manage and saving some cash for many homeowners.

by Jon Chase Depending on your heating and cooling system, a smart thermostat can slash energy use and your bills. But for some people, they may only provide convenience.

by Grant Clauser If your smart speaker is a Google Home, here are the best devices that work with it.