I got into home automation because I love gizmos. I love to automate everything. One thing I realized as I started to test Z-Command is that we started to save energy. Motion sensors around the house and office means that lights don’t stay on when no-one is around. This is significant because lights now stay off for more than half of the day.

I also programmed the thermostat to reduce the temperature at night, increase it in the morning while everyone is preparing for school and work and turn it off when everyone leaves the house. It is then turned on again when everyone gets back. While this all sounds complicated, it is fun to see this all happening in the background while we go about our lives. We’re not only saving energy, the house is a lot more comfortable!

Finally, one way we’ve been saving energy is by actually monitoring energy usage. We have a couple of  Aeon Labs Aeotec Z-Wave Smart Energy Power Strip (DSC11-ZWUS) adapters. These show you how much energy your devices are using in real-time and how much energy they’ve used since last reset. The effect is that we are a lot more conscious about energy usage and now tend to turn off the appliances! Not a big deal though because turning things on and off with Z-Command is very easy.

For the ultimate in energy monitoring, check out Aeon Labs Aeotec Z-Wave Home Energy Meter, (DSB28-ZWUS) which lets you monitor whole-house energy usage.