How to Use Google Home Hub to Save Energy
The ever-increasing number of devices in our homes can make you worry about overall energy consumption. While there is no perfect solution or one-size-fits-all approach to reducing energy consumption, if you have a tool like the Google Home Hub you can better track your consumption and look for ways to improve it. While not all devices are compatible with it, the hub does act as a central control panel for many of your smart home gadgets, giving you more control over when and how much power you use.
Here are three ways you can use the Google Home Hub to track and, as a result, reduce your energy consumption.
Connect your Google Home Hub to a smart thermostat
One of the biggest consumers of energy in your home is your heating and cooling system, and if you use a Google Home compatible smart thermostat, you can track how much energy the system is using. With your thermostat connected to the Google Home Hub, tap the thermostat icon or name on your hub. Go to the Energy Dashboard to see a breakdown by day, week, or month. The chart will show you how long the heater or air conditioner has been running in a given period of time, and you can click Energy History Details for more details.
This data can help you determine when to change the temperature to reduce energy consumption, and with a hub you can adjust the thermostat to match the new schedule.
Use smart bulbs
Another way to save energy with the Google Home Hub is to use smart bulbs. Google Home compatible bulbs are more expensive than traditional bulbs, but you can control them from your hub, automating the lights on and off at a specific moment.
To do this, click on Procedures and then Add Procedure in your hub. Enter the voice command you will use to control it, then set the time, day, and speaker you want to use. Then click Add Action > Popular Actions and enter the indicators to configure and the actions to follow. Once your schedule is set, your Home Hub will automatically turn the lights on and off. (You can also go to the hub to view their energy consumption.)
Watch out for other electronics
Smart thermostats and light bulbs aren’t the only devices that can be plugged into the hub – you can also check how much power each connected gadget is using. Each connected device will have an icon on your hub screen that you can tap. From there, you can view reports on how much power they are using. While not every gadget has controls that allow you to adjust its energy consumption, tracking their consumption can show you which gadgets are worth using less.
Remember that the hub itself also uses power – to minimize this, lower the screen brightness and turn off the screen when you are not using it.