Virtual assistants for the home, Alexa, Google Home or Movistar Home, allow energy savings thanks to greater control over the appliances in the house.
The connected home needed the arrival of a real brain to crystallize. Not that it has now done so, but the road is less steep with the personal assistants. Alexa, Google Home or Movistar Homebut also the HomePod Apple and other smart speakers, have given a new meaning to home automation that has been developing for years, with not very good fortune on the market.
Home automation was born with a dual purpose. It was necessary to make the home more comfortable and pleasant. But it also had to be more controlled, especially the aspect of electricity consumption. Energy efficiency has been one of the selling points of the incipient sector of home automation. It has not become a winning argument, but it is increasingly charged with reason, with the increase in the use of electronic devices and electricity consumption.
As brains of this new connected home, Alexa, Google Home or Movistar Home are able to connect home automation elements of our home. In this way, attendees can control the lights on – and, above all, its off– as well as heatingTV or phone.
When it comes to heating, comfort is the most sought after. With a smart thermostat connected, a personal assistant can program it, reprogram it if needed, turn it off, modify the temperature. Savings in this area can be derived from stronger and more accessible control. The interface of a personal assistant is simple and integrated with the rest of the home automation. So the user doesn’t have to dive into multiple applications.
Control of electrical appliances
Although the main savings due to personal assistants would come from multiple appliances connected to the power grid that we have in a house. There are appliances, lights and electronic devices scattered throughout the rooms, kitchen and bathroom.
Some of these devices consume standby energy, which throughout the year is an unnecessary waste of resources. It’s always been said that TV he’s one of these energetic vampires, but he’s also microwave it is part of this group.
With the help of smart plugs you can cut the power to these devices from anywhere. Just do it with a voice command, from home, or through your smartphone, anywhere.
Personal assistants can help centralize all these devices, as smart plugs, so that it is easy to handle them. Currently the home automation systems that accompany the smart plugs themselves do not usually offer as immediate accessibility as a voice command.
The same is true if we use these types of plugs– some of which even allow us to control the consumption individually-with other devices, such as a desktop computer or a stereo.
Although we should not overlook that the speakers themselves, as well as plugs and other smart gadgets, they also consume energy. Being permanently connected is still a small expense that accumulates at the end of the year.
Images: Bence Boros, Amazon
