How to Optimize Your Smart Home for Summer
Optimizing your living space to seamlessly adapt to the changing seasons is one of the best and coolest uses of a smart home. A smart home set up for summer will save you a ton of money and provide greater comfort; plus, it’s just plain awesome . Imagine the sci-fi thrill of watching your home automatically prepare for the heat, without your input.
Install a smart thermostat.
If you’re still controlling your home’s climate with a dial, it’s time to upgrade. A smart thermostat like the Ecobee works seamlessly with Apple Home, Google Home, and Alexa, and does much more than just let you change the temperature from your phone. It can be the brains behind your summertime optimization strategy: it actively tracks your habits, monitors local weather, and determines how long it takes your home to cool down. If you enjoy artificial intelligence (or hate scheduling everything manually), the Google Nest Learning Thermostat (4th generation) uses AI to learn your daily habits and automatically creates an energy-efficient climate map for your home.
Installing a smart thermostat may seem like a daunting task, but it’s often easier than it seems. Modern kits are generally designed for standard homes and come with simple instructions to help you connect the wires correctly. Follow the instructions carefully, take a photo of your initial installation with your phone before disconnecting anything, and you’ll likely be fine. However, if you have any doubts, hire a professional to do it for you.
Let the sunlight and darkness work for you.
Computer-controlled smart blinds aren’t just cool, they can also save you a ton of money. Limiting the amount of sunlight coming through your windows means your air conditioner won’t have to work as hard, while still keeping you comfortable. Depending on your home’s features and how much you want to invest in this system, there are three approaches.
Scheduling function. Setting the blinds on the west side of the house to close at 2:00 PM and open at 6:00 PM is a crude tool, but it gets the job done, and it’s easy. For example, these Yoolax motorized blinds work with major home automation systems from Amazon, Google, and others, and come with a 15-channel remote control, so you can program them right out of the box, without even connecting your smart home system.
Light-based control: Instead of choosing a fixed time, you can tie your blinds to a changing sun schedule by setting a programming rule in your smart hub, such as “Close blinds exactly three hours after sunrise.” These SmartWings motorized roller blinds can do all this via Matter-over-Thread or Homekit.
Light sensors: Both options work great until it’s a cloudy day. Light sensors, built directly into the solar panel of smart blinds or attached to the windowsill, measure the actual light intensity, then you can set a rule that opens the blinds during summer rains. Even relatively inexpensive products, like the SwitchBot Blind Tilt motorized blinds, are equipped with light sensors and, what’s more, they work with your existing blinds.
Adjust the air flow direction by synchronizing the ceiling fan and air conditioner.
With regular ceiling fans, you can cool down without chilling the entire house. They create a cooling effect on your skin, and when combined with a smart thermostat, you can trick your body into feeling comfortable without turning your home into a refrigerator. Here’s how:
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Make sure the fans are rotating counterclockwise to push the air column downwards.
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Raise the thermostat a little higher, for example, from 70 to 74 degrees.
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Create a conditional rule in your smart home app, such as: “IF the room temperature reaches 74 degrees, THEN turn on the smart plug connected to the fan.”
You’ll feel the air moving in a warm room as cooler than in still air, and this can be achieved with just a $15 smart plug.
Fix the problem of air leaking from the air conditioner through an open door.
My mom used to say, “What, are we cooling the whole neighborhood?” if someone left the door open in the summer, but I did it anyway, and sometimes it would stay open for half a day. You can avoid wasted air conditioning and avoid annoying doorbells by using simple door sensors. These devices connect to your door and notify you whether it’s open or closed. You can integrate them with your smart home software and create a rule that turns off the air conditioner or switches it to economy mode if the door is left open for three minutes, or simply set up an alert to be sent to your phone so you can yell if the door is left open.
Reschedule high-temperature work to off-peak hours.
Anyone who lives in a dry area already knows that energy-hungry appliances like dishwashers and clothes dryers shouldn’t be turned on during peak air conditioning hours; this not only puts extra strain on the electrical grid but also heats up the house, so schedule energy-hungry appliances for the night. If someone in your family insists on drying clothes at midday, you can set a rule like, “IF it’s 11:30 PM, turn on the smart plug. IF it’s 7:00 AM, turn off the smart plug.” If you love smart appliances, like a GE dryer , you can bypass smart plugs and control everything directly from your smart home hub.
Keep your home safe during summer holidays.
Setting lights to turn on and off while you’re on vacation is a basic burglary deterrent, but a determined thief will certainly notice if they’re actually snooping around. Instead of a predictable schedule, use built-in algorithms to create the convincing impression of a person’s presence in your home. Philips Hue lights offer a free “Simulated Presence” feature, and Alexa smart speakers include an “Away” feature as part of the Guard Plus service, which costs $4.99 per month. When you set your system’s status to “Away,” these programs analyze your habits and use algorithms to randomly turn on and off your smart bulbs, outlets, and switches. They turn lights on and off in unpredictable patterns, periodically move smart blinds, and can even transmit audio or ambient TV noise to different rooms, creating the impression that an invisible family is living in your home while you’re relaxing at Busch Gardens.