We all know the age-old tips and tricks about cutting down on household bills, from switching lights off in rooms you aren’t occupying, and installing LED light bulbs, to not letting your taps run while you brush your teeth. But thanks to the ever-evolving world of technology, we can supplement these well-known practices with a few pieces of smart home tech that can help us save money in the long term. With the constant rising costs of utilities, we all need to think a little more carefully about how we use our household resources, and these smart home tech devices can help us do just that.
GaugeIT
Water is a scarce resource in the country, particularly in the Western Cape where ‘Day Zero’ was a legitimate threat for quite some time. While we can all do our part to install grey water systems, it can often be difficult to gauge whether or not your usage is still over the current limits and if you run the risk of being charged for excessive use on top of the already high water tariffs.
A proudly South African company has come to our aid in this regard, with a water management system called GaugeIT. The system is installed to monitor your water usage and syncs to an app where all your information is easily accessed. You can now get hourly water metre readings to assess your daily or monthly consumption, alerts for leaks or faults, and notifications for excessive consumption. Now you can prevent high water bills before it’s too late.
MyAir
Summer has arrived, and it can be difficult escaping the heat if you don’t have a swimming pool or a room in your home that doesn’t stay cool enough. If you have a traditional air conditioning system or are thinking of getting one, you’ll probably be aware that they aren’t only expensive to buy and install, but also expensive to run as you ramp it up to cool yourself down.
MyAir is a smart air conditioning app run from a tablet or smartphone, that can help you remotely control your traditional air conditioning system to suit your schedule and budget. Sensors detect whether a room has been unoccupied for 10 minutes, and the temperature is automatically adjusted by one degree to reduce output and wastage. If a room has been unoccupied for 20 minutes, the temperature is adjusted by two degrees to further reduce unnecessary output. Additionally, the device allows you to choose which room you’d like to use, and only cools that room down, and if you’ve left the house without switching the air conditioning off, you can do so via the app. According to the developers, the system can reduce energy usage by up to 20%.
Whether you’re on the hunt for property for sale in Cape Town and want to ensure you save water in your new home, or you’re considering installing smart technology into your current home to reduce your household bills and put less strain on our precious resources, these two systems can help you do just that.