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Saving energy with the smart home: Defying rising prices

15. August 2022 Published by Jana Greyling

The news coming from the energy markets isn’t good. The aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, the energy transition and, last but not least, the war in Ukraine are driving up energy prices. Consequently, many people are already anxiously awaiting how high their new payments on account for their utility bill will be. However, the inevitable increase can at least be cushioned. Such as with our tips on how to save energy with the smart home.

Saving energy with the smart home: Why prices are on the rise

A kilowatt-hour for private households still cost an average of 31.9 cents in 2021. It rose to 34.6 cents at the beginning of 2022. The price under new contracts in March 2022 was already 41 cents – as calculated by the portal Strom-Report. There are a variety of factors that are currently combining to drive up the price of electricity:

Industrial production is picking up again after the coronavirus crisis, resulting in greater demand for electricity and so higher prices.
More efficient power grids are needed for the energy transition. Their expansion is financed by transmission charges paid by suppliers. They are rising sharply at present.
Similarly, the price paid by producers for the CO₂ they cause is heading in one direction only: upwards.
The war in Ukraine is intensifying the uncertainty. Reductions in the supply of gas and coal mean the prices for these raw materials have increased.

These pressures have led to rising prices on the world market, which suppliers pass on to consumers. As a result, suppliers’ financial cushions have shrunk to such an extent that they are no longer able to make any favorable offers to new customers. So switching suppliers no longer entails any benefits at the moment. Going without things is the order of the day – or saving energy with the smart home

Saving energy with the smart home: It’s easier in the winter

The simplest way to lead an energy-conscious life with the smart home is to install smart thermostats. Because an intelligent means of controlling the heating means it’s only turned on when you actually need it. The Gigaset Heating Pack ONE X, for example, lets you control your radiators remotely using an app.

Saving energy with the smart home: It’s also possible in the summer

Of course, the heating is the first thing you think of when you want to save energy. But you can’t save on it in the summer. Still, a smart home can help you save energy during the warm season. Here are some tips:

Use smart plugs like the Gigaset Plug 2.0: They help you identify power guzzlers. They also allow you to control some non-intelligent devices from your smartphone. For example, you can turn on a fan just before you get home, which avoids the need to keep it running all the time.
Smart shower heads reduce the amount of water you used while shampooing your hair. That means you use less hot water.
Smart roller shutters close automatically when the sun shines. As a result, your home lets in less heat, which may otherwise have to be dissipated with an air-conditioning system.
Climate sensors like the Gigaset Climate Sensor ONE X help monitor the climate indoors. That means you can find out when your home heats up, when it cools down again and how humidity forms. Backed by that knowledge, you can optimize your ventilation behavior – and save the lots of energy an air-conditioning system would consume.

An air-conditioning system guzzles energy

For a long time, air-conditioning systems led a niche existence in Germany. According to the German Building Climate Control Association (FGK), however, sales rose by 20 percent in 2018 and by a further 15 percent the following year. That trend is set to continue as summers get warmer. Yet air conditioners are real power guzzlers. The portal web.de offers a calculator that lets you compute the amount of electricity you can expect to consume in running an air-conditioning system.

And when you buy one, the same rule of thumb applies as for just about all electrical devices: Make sure the appliance has good energy efficiency and permits smart controlling. That way, you even stay cool at low cost even when energy is expensive.