What are the benefits of home automation? Is it really necessary or is it just a luxury for the ultra rich? Why should someone incorporate automated systems in their home to begin with? It it just for convenience, or is it more trouble than it’s worth?
In deciding whether to automate a home, here are a few important considerations to think about first:
THE NEED FOR SPEED
The world has gotten in a big hurry and everyone feels the push. We hurry to our jobs. We hurry on vacation. We hurry to and fro everywhere. This hurried paced sometimes doesn’t slow down when we are at home. We want the TV on in a second, our security systems in place without having to think about it, and everything at our fingertips. Home automation ovides this. It allows seamless integration with all systems so that everything is within hands reach, or accessible with a simple command. The benefits of home automation save us time and energy, and that may be worth it in and of itself.
SECURITY FIRST
Security is one of the most necessary ingredients to the way we feel in our own homes today. Crime is on the rise, as people struggle to make ends meet. There are more burglaries in many areas than there have ever been before. Home automation allows complete security by integrating your home security system within your whole technology system so that it is easily controllable with the touch of a button or through remote access.
ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL
With the current energy concerns and “green” issues, it is important to monitor the use of heating and cooling units, overall efficiency of a house or building, and watch for trends in energy waste. This can be done with a fully automated system that combines the best of all the technologies to create a stable environment for your home or business that is “green friendly.” Protecting and improving the environment helps not only the whole world, but it also saves us as individuals a lot of money. It is estimated that by using such home automation, and presetting your thermostat at a certain level at different times of the day or night, or to program it to go off when you are out, you could save up to 12% per year on your electricity bills!
NETWORKING CAPABILITY
If you own more than one home or unit, home automation can be set up to work with all of them, seamlessly integrating them all together. Using cloud technology and the best of engineering techniques, home systems can be combined together to control all units easily and remotely.
SUMMARY
With today’s changing security and energy concerns, the need for speed and convenience, and handicap accessibility issues, it is becoming more apparent that home automation is a necessity, not a luxury. While the idea is still not “main stream” among the general population, many businesses and homeowners are starting to turn to this as a necessary component of their feeling of security and well-being when they turn off their lights at night and also when they are away.
To find out more about how home automation can make life better, or how to integrate all home systems together, including audio systems, security, lighting, energy maintenance and much more, research home automation on the web and you will see that we are moving swiftly toward this being the standard for home security and convenience. So is home automation just for the wealthy or is it something we will soon see in every home?
Admittedly, it will be awhile before we will find every home in the world with automatic timers, sound systems, and security alarms, but we are moving toward a day when the capabilities for automation will be both more affordable and appealing to a mass market.
I love how you said that everything would be at a hand’s reach if you automate your home because that makes everything really convenient. If I could turn off the light from my phone, that would be amazing. Can you set it up to make your phone the main control?