While the rapid evolution of technology has provided the world with a variety of new benefits and advantageous capabilities, the digital explosion has not come without its challenges as well. Negatives such as heightened cyberattacks of all forms have dominated the media, but one of the most prominent drawbacks of innovative technology relates to energy. The increased use of technology has raised the demand for energy needs around the globe, which in turn has also called for an enhanced prioritization of energy use and efficiency.
Energy efficiency is currently a problem that plagues consumers on an individual scale, with 44 percent of United States residents having to spend almost 10 percent of their salary on energy, as well as nearly 60 percent of residents having to often decide between paying for energy or groceries. These numbers become even harder to swallow when one realizes that 67 percent of energy used in homes today fall under the category of wasted.
Furthermore, the percent of consumers dealing with energy efficiency issues is enough that it becomes a country-wide issue when looked at under a large enough lens. In the U.S., according to the Department of Energy, today’s electrical system power outages and interruptions cost Americans at least USD 150 billion each year, with this estimate putting the price tag at about USD 500 per person. Luckily, where technology creates a problem, nowadays it also offers a solution, with the use of artificial intelligence (AI) applications and their autonomous capabilities leading the way against energy inefficiency.
Automation for All
AI and automation are already garnering an extreme amount of hype at the enterprise level, thanks to the variety of benefits the technology offers. For many enterprises, the most notable benefits have been achieved using new automation tools, which not only help optimize daily processes for increased efficiency, but also negates a myriad of human error mistakes as well. However, AI is quickly becoming more accessible for consumers, allowing the technology to flourish at an individual level.
For example, AI-powered tools for artwork, writing, and filming are offering new possibilities to any creative individual with access to the internet. Now, AI is rapidly transitioning from a tool to help consumer creators, to an application that can help home-owners finally reach their desired levels of energy efficiency. This is being achieved through the use of home automation systems.
The rise of home automation is currently underway in households all across the globe. This refers to a network of hardware, communication, and electronic interfaces that work to integrate everyday devices with one another via the Internet. Usually, each device has sensors and is connected through WiFi, so they can be managed from a smartphone or tablet, anywhere and anytime.
This offers premier benefits are energy efficiency capabilities to consumers that leverage the technology. For example, home automation systems offer the ability to set an energy schedule for future dates and times in advance, which gives consumers the ability to schedule less energy use during off-peak house hours, such as when the house is most likely empty, or at least less populated during school and work hours.
Hub Controls is Here to Help
At hub controls, we understand the desire to use energy more efficiently may not be a choice for some consumers, but a necessity given their financial situation, which is why our goal is to reduce that burden for all those homes by installing our Hub Controls system.
Our system is affordable, easy for service providers to install, and intuitive to use because the system is continually self-learning. Consumers simply set their basic parameters, and the system then monitors and adapts to ensure energy is never wasted. Our Hub Controller systems also come equipped with automatic energy reduction (AER) capabilities to ensure the most efficient use of energy.
Unfortunately, helping households reduce energy waste through education and behavior changes is actually pretty difficult. Many earlier energy saving initiatives failed to produce useful or long term results, and even the supposedly innovative solution of smart thermostats can’t provide evidence of actual energy savings over time.
This is what sparked us to create the AER-equipped Hub Controller. AER is what delivers the majority of your energy savings by reducing the amount of boiler-on time through intuiting a households’ preferences even more accurately than a human could. This makes it easy for consumers to save on energy, which is found to be on average 36.63 percent worth of savings, even if they forget to monitor their energy use themselves.
Overall, as we continue to move forward into an extremely digital age, the need for efficient energy use, and the demand for energy in general, is only going to grow with more new devices set to hit the market. With four years of data, we at Hub Controls have built a fully automated intelligent system that helps consumers take control of their energy usage with very little effort once the system is set up. This not only helps consumers improve their energy efficiency, but also helps to continually optimize the energy we have by lowering consumption and reducing waste – automatically – benefiting people, providers, and the planet.