When it comes to updating your old home to meet modern standards, there is ample incentive to do so these days. What do we mean? Well, for example, a very convenient thing a smart home can do is help you save money by being more energy efficient. It can also make life a lot easier for you and your family. However, there’s a problem here: where do you start? “Surely only new homes can be transformed into smart homes,” you say. Actually, you’re wrong! While it’s true that most new homes – like the City Centre Condos – are more easily transformed, there are ways to “smarten up” your older home as well. Here are 6 ways you can do just that.
- Start By Upgrading Your Appliances
Upgrading your appliances so that they are energy efficient is one of the easiest things you can do as a homeowner or even renter. Why start here? Because there is little sense in upgrading the technology inside your home only to have it be less energy efficient than before. Therefore, remember that light bulbs, appliances and other home items that have an EnergyStar rating are the way to go. Why? Because they can save thousands of dollars over the course of the year while, at the same time, minimize your impact on the environment. And if you really want to bump up your home’s energy efficiency, try adding energy efficient windows or even additional solar panels. City Centre Condos boast different combinations of these, for example. It’s smart for the environment and smart for your budget.
- Switch Over To A Home Automation System
No – it’s not like living inside The Jetsons’ house or the USS Enterprise, though, yes – it does feature elements similar to what you’ve seen in these television shows. In addition to home efficiency, home automation is also a step in the right direction when it comes to creating a Smart home. Basically, home automation systems are designed to make your life easier by doing your work for you. This is possible thanks to the fact that these systems make use of home automation products. Essentially, we’re talking about transforming “dumb” homes into “smart” ones. These systems, which are also present at City Centre Condos, by the way, customize house settings to suit your needs, automate home functions like temperature control, monitor your property in real time and make it possible to lock and unlock your home when you’re away.
- Monitor & Control Energy
At the end of the day, no one wants a home that produces an ugly surprise at the end of the month by guzzling through power. One way to keep your power bill in check is to make use of Wi-Fi smart plugs that allow you to track your energy consumption on the corresponding app. If this sounds too simple, there are always the aforementioned home automation systems that allow you plenty more control over energy management (keep in mind that numerous units at City Centre Condos can be easily fitted with such systems). Either approach is fine and works by monitoring energy consumption and notifying you when and where most of it is being wasted – from switching off lights and closing blinds to turning off the TV if it’s not being watched.
- Make Use Of Smart Lighting
Although it has been around for a number of years, smart lighting has really taken off recently. This is mainly thanks to companies like Belkin and Philips, whose products are reliable, simple to use and fairly reasonably priced. There are several reasons why smart lighting is a good thing. Firstly, you kind of has to admit it is pretty cool to have the option of turning on customized lighting with the tap of a button on a smartphone app. If you’re currently looking for a unit at City Centre Condos, you should know smart lighting is standard in a number of apartments. You could even get a system that is integrated with your air conditioning and control it via smartphone or wall tablet. But, more importantly, another function of smart lighting is being able to turn on lights in your home remotely. If you’re away or out for the evening, this can deter burglars successfully.
- Boost Your Home’s Intelligence By Adding A Smart Home Network
In case you’ve never considered adding a network-attached storage system to your home network for the purpose of boosting your home’s intelligence, now might be the time. This sort of smart home network can not only consolidate, centralize and sync all your documents, photos, movies, music, and other data but can also make it on-demand available to virtually any connected device. This includes everything from PCs and TVs to tablets and phones. As far as City Centre Condos go, this is the ultimate way to smarten up your unit in the long term.
- Ultimately, The Two Main Considerations When Making Homes Smarter Are Security & Comfort
Everyone wants to feel more secure, which is why it’s no surprise that security is fast becoming the most popular smart home niche. Here, you’re looking at everything from texting smoke detectors and connected baby monitors to home system integrations that turn on a porch light when a camera detects someone in your backyard at night. Connected security cameras that send custom alerts are also becoming more and more widespread. On the other hand, comfort is another hugely important aspect of one’s home – something that goes double for City Centre Condos. Automated window blinds and smart thermostats are just the beginning. These products can all be programmed to maintain a stable temperature inside your home while optimizing controls to your habits and thereby cutting energy costs.
Author: Matt Tricot
