Cutting energy costs with Ampio. What savings can your smart system generate?

In the winter period, we always use more energy. The temperatures drop, and the days are getting shorter, meaning we have to spend much more on heating or lighting. The winter that’s coming, however, will be extraordinary. 

We have been seeing energy prices rising for some time already due to the changing geopolitical situation. As a response, many people started searching for solutions that would allow them to get independent from high energy prices. After the initial boom in the European markets, photovoltaics is gaining momentum again. But there are other ways to save energy and make the house more energy efficient without affecting life’s comfort. A smart home can be an example.

Smart home and savings

In our article, we will try to show how exactly smart homes generate savings. Among our clients, such systems usually cut costs by several dozen percent. Cost reduction is a result of various different factors. In order to achieve the best effect, it is worth combining a few smart home functionalities. 

Although such a system does not generate additional energy, as in the case of photovoltaics, it optimizes its consumption, which translates into lower costs. It is worth considering its installation, though – particularly now when the energy prices are reaching peaks. 

Heating

Regardless of the heating method of your choice, your wallet will likely be affected by the cost rise. However, with the smart home system, you can optimize the heating process, minimizing energy use without affecting household members’ comfort. More specifically – the system enables adjusting the heating’s intensity to the time of the day and the conditions inside the house. According to Nest Lab’s estimations, the intelligent thermostat can reduce yearly heating costs by 10-12 percent (just by itself!).

Using the scheduling system, you can program the heating in a way that reflects household members’ presence in the house throughout the day. When they are absent, the temperature can fall automatically. 

Another method that allows smart home users to reduce energy consumption is heating zones. In the traditional heating model, the heat is distributed evenly. That doesn’t go in line with the way we use space. We usually spend most of our time in particular rooms while the others stay empty most of the time. By differentiating the heating areas, you can automatically adjust the heating level to your customs. 

Using a seamless application, you will easily manage the heating and schedule it without even being in the house. If you change plans and arrive home later, you can always grab the phone and change the settings.

Temperature sensors are another significant piece of the puzzle. Some rooms are so exposed to sunlight that they maintain a higher temperature – even a few degrees higher than in the other rooms. With an intelligent system, you can take advantage of this fact, adjusting the heating level to the sunlight levels. Another element that boosts savings is the window reed switches that turn the heating off when you open the windows. 

Lighting

Although it’s the heating that bothers us the most in winter, the lighting has even more potential when it comes to savings. The choice of bulbs is crucial in this context – just by replacing regular ones with LEDs, you can reduce energy use related to lighting by as much as 75%! 

High energy bills may also result from using lighting in a careless way. As a result, although we use relatively little energy, its use accumulates, leading to quite some loss. Little habits, which we are often not even conscious of – like leaving the light on the corridor or using different kinds of lamps at the same time – can significantly raise the numbers on your energy bill.

Smart home eliminates this issue in an automated way. Motion detectors send information to the system that manages the lighting, preventing situations in which the light is on in empty rooms. 

The light intensity detectors enable adjusting the lighting to the current needs of the household members and the conditions inside. Instead of using the standard setting, you can adjust the intensity of the light automatically. For instance: when the room lacks light during the day, you will likely not need intense lighting. The system will adjust the intensity base on the register light levels. That’s also how savings accumulate.  

Aside from using sensors, the smart home system enables automation based on the user’s customs and needs. Via our application, you will set up the lighting duration and configuration. After the defined time passes, the bulbs will immediately turn off. Full lighting automation is also a great way to protect your home against burglars without wasting energy.

You can program it to imitate the presence of the household members in the house. 

Monitoring

The smart home system processes data collected from sensors in real-time, using it to adjust the conditions inside the house. At the same time, it gathers data for the users, enabling them to monitor energy use. Consciousness is the first step to savings – and with intelligent technology, you can easily figure out which items use more energy than they should. 

That’s why our app provides you with instant access to statistics. You can check how long the particular devices work and how much it costs. You will also identify the items or spheres responsible for heightened energy consumption during a particular period. You may be surprised by the results!

Integration

We have already mentioned that due to the price rise, the solutions that support energy self-sufficiency are gaining more popularity than ever. That applies particularly to photovoltaic panels and heat pumps. You can integrate these solutions into our system in order to maximize savings. 

Smart home system cooperates with them as well as with the counters, analyzing real-time data in order to optimize energy management. This way, the automation features rely on the efficiency of the installation. For instance, if you use photovoltaics, you can integrate it with a 2-way energy meter and a heat buffer or a DHW cylinder so that heating depends on the overproduction of energy. 

Are you wondering what savings you can count on by combining different modules of the Ampio system together? Every case is different, so we decided to skip the estimations in this article. However, we would love to help you estimate the expected savings after getting familiar with the specifics of your home. Write to us if you’re interested!