Smart Homes have become a popular solution in many households in recent times. From smart light bulbs to devices that significantly ramp up your home security system, the list of things that you can automate seem endless. But we’re only now experiencing the beginning of this ultra hi-tech evolution. As people live increasingly busier lives in the modern age, a call for automation has become a top priority. People are finding that having smart home devices in their homes help free up much of their personal time, while making their homes a lot more comfortable to live in.
According to Statista, the global market revenue of the Smart Home industry has been estimated to land at a whopping $77.38 billion USD in the year 2020 alone. From 2020 – 2025, revenue is projected to grow each year by roughly 17.9 percent, reaching $175.98 billion USD by 2025. That’s a lot of people around the world investing in smart home devices. A little over 10 percent of the world will have acquired a smart home device by the end of 2020, and 21 percent will have a smart device by 2025 (Statista). This number seems rather small when taking into account all the available technology we now have at our fingertips.
The idea of Smart Homes is still a new concept and many people appear to be overwhelmed by the endless information out there about exactly what a smart home is, what it can do for you and where to even begin when it comes to setting up the equipment.
Seeing that there’s an 80 percent chance you don’t own a smart device, fear not. We’ve gone through the legwork of eliminating arbitrary jargon and explaining in plain-old layman terms the only things you will ever need to know about smart homes and smart home devices to allow your house to meet its full potential as the most livable, technically advanced home it can possibly be as we enter 2021.
What is a Smart Home?
A smart home device is “smart” because it learns how to work for you better. These devices have sophisticated software that become more and more familiar with your habits, routines and preferences over time. Ambi Climate Mini, for example, is a Smart AC and heat pump controller that remembers temperature adjustments and memorizes energy use routines, logging each choice you made to get the perfect temperature for any time of the day in any season. Any smart home device must be connected through a control center. For many, this would be their smartphones, but other alternatives can include tablets, laptops or even game consoles. It’s fine to control your smart home device directly through your phone, but when you start to accumulate more than a handful of devices, it becomes difficult to keep track of each one. This is why people get home automation systems: an organizer that seamlessly slots all your smart devices into one cohesive network so they harmoniously work together.
Think of it this way: You’re driving back home from dinner at your favorite restaurant, and you’re about 15 minutes away from arriving at your front door. Your phone’s GPS tells your home automation system that you’re on your way back, so your home’s climate device prepares your favorite temperature, your security system is disarmed and expects you, your doors unlock as you walk up to it and the lights flick on as you enter the house. All of this was made possible because the home automation system is leading the pack of devices, like a conductor of an orchestra.
Why Smart Home Devices Are Good for Saving Money and Energy
If there’s some truth to the well-known phrase “time is money,” then a device that can save you both time and money must be an attractive thing. Besides the costs of a smart device’s initial investments, there really are no downsides to having them if you know what you’re getting. In case you’re wondering, here are some stats for you: 57 percent of owners of smart devices claim they use their gadgets to save time, 45 percent acknowledge their devices save them money.
One major benefit to having a smart home device is the amount of energy one household can save. Smart AC controllers are a primary example. According to the latest figures from Statista, there are about 1.9 billion AC units around the world — mainly in the U.S., China, Japan and South Korea. This number, however, is set to grow to 5.5 billion by 2050 (International Energy Agency). Currently, the average amount of energy a central AC unit uses is about 3,000 – 5,000W of electricity in a single day (EnergyUseCalculator). This has been cited as roughly 42 percent of overall energy consumption. But with Smart AC controllers, the amount of energy used can be reduced to an average of 10 – 20 percent when compared to having no smart setup — Ambi Climate users have reported 30 percent-worth of savings when using its smart Comfort AI Assistant.
Multiply these numbers for every household worldwide, and the amount of total energy saved could be astounding: Project Drawdown has estimated that by 2050, 7.4 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions could be reduced, with around $1.8 trillion USD-worth of savings in utility bills (Project Drawdown). So we’ve established that having smart devices could be a good thing, for both your wallet and the planet, so now let’s figure out the best way to set up smart devices at home.
How smart can you make your home?
Some of the most popular systems on the market right now are Amazon Echo, which is that “Alexa” system you’ve probably heard people using; Google Home, which uses Google Assistant; and Apple HomeKit, which uses Siri. Now there are some differences between each one, but they’re all pretty much designed to do the same thing — stringing together all smart devices under one roof to make life more comfortable and convenient.
Amazon Echo is currently leading the market as the best-selling home automation system. Besides centralizing all smart devices, Echo comes with some features of its own. It can provide music, set up calls, turn on alerts, answer questions and even offer weather and traffic reports. It’s like a futuristic genie in a small machine. Your commands to Alexa can be easily picked up by Echo’s omnidirectional microphones where you can speak from across the room.
Google Home can display local weather information, tell you about upcoming events, show you your schedule and play your favorite music. It can also display a digital clock when it’s not in use and reel through photos that have been stored in your Google Photo account. One competitive advantage to Google Home is that it integrates smoothly with all of Google’s services, like its web search.
Apple HomeKit has been available for a number of years, and it’s recently begun to loosen its hardware security, allowing support for a broad range of various third-party smart peripherals. Besides a few minor downsides that people have been reporting, like its limited compatibility, one benefit is that Siri is highly detailed and can pick up on tiny nuances in your speech so you can talk to it more naturally.
Maximize Comfort and Control With Ambi Climate Mini
Now that we’ve covered what smart devices are and how home automation systems are essential for a seamless experience, we can now move onto the final part of this crash course: we’re going to explain just how simple it is to integrate a smart device to a hub. We’ll be using the Ambi Climate Mini as an example. This advanced smart device regulates the climate at home. It learns exactly what temperatures your home needs to be at to put you in your most comfortable state, adjusting for dramatic weather factors like humidity and frost by either turning up the AC or the heat pump. It looks after you while you’re sleeping, takes care of your pet when you're not at home and seamlessly shifts temperatures as the seasons change. It, of course, saves you energy, removing a significant chunk out of your electric bill.
Ambi Climate Mini is a great option for those looking to dip their toes into making a Smart AC and heat pump controller a part of their lifestyle. Beyond the core features mentioned above, it also gives you the flexibility of adding more trailblazing, state-of-the-art functions to the device via a subscription plan of just $2.99 USD per month: the world's only Comfort AI assistant. It takes into account not just your own comfort, but the entire family’s, gathering data of each individual across the household and streamlining it all so everyone at home will be happy — an added layer of sophistication to an already intelligent system.
Ambi Climate Mini is compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Home. To integrate the device with Amazon Echo, for example, all you have to do is go on Amazon Echo’s Alexa app, and tap “Enable Skill.” This will link Ambi Climate to the hub, and you’ll be able to use it straight away. Just tell Alexa that you’re feeling a bit hot or a little chilly and it will operate. Those who are just starting out and don’t intend on having an automation system can still operate Ambi Climate Mini in the exact same way. If you’re on your iPhone, just tell Siri to relay what you want Ambi Climate Mini to do. You can find out more on Ambi Climate's knowledge base.
Well, that’s it. We’ve reached the end of this crash course. Pretty simple, right? If you’re looking to kick off 2021 with a comfortable home, Ambi Climate Mini is recommended. Click here to enjoy the current offer and tap the button below to learn more about how to level up your home with Ambi Climate Mini.
