Smart, green upgrades for home

If the recent water and electricity price hikes have impacted your budget, now is the time to explore green upgrades for your home.

This is the opinion of Arjun Khoosal, chief technology officer and co-founder of Kandua.com, South Africa’s largest online marketplace for home services. Khoosal is an advocate for smart systems that make homes more sustainable and less reliant on the grid.

A smart home involves the connection of appliances, devices, and systems to the internet so that functions like lighting, temperature and security can be automated and remotely controlled.

Here he shares several tech upgrades to consider:

Smart lighting solutions

These systems allow you to adjust the brightness and colour of your lights, as well as turn them off and on according to time or motion sensors. Everything can be controlled from your phone or laptop, or you can use automated settings.

 Automation for temperature control

The smart home trend has seen a boom in smart thermostats which can reduce reliance on expensive heaters and air conditioners. Khoosal also mentions options like automated window shutters that respond to weather conditions to take advantage of the warming power of the sun, while also sealing the gaps around windows and door frames to make sure heat is retained.

Slay energy vampires

Some appliances and devices continue to draw power even when they’re turned off. Common culprits are gaming consoles, laptops, TVs, coffee machines and microwaves. “An easy way to deal with these so-called energy vampires is to use a smart power strip that can offer surge protection, remote control and cut off supply to a specific device when it goes into standby mode,” explains Khoosal.

Water savings

If you have an irrigation system, installing an automatic timing switch will give your garden only as much water as required. Adding a rain sensor will further prevent wastage. Inside the home, Khoosal’s advice is to keep washing machines and dishwashers clean and well maintained, or upgrade to newer, more efficient models.

A solid network…

 “A good, reliable internet connection is the backbone of any smart home,” says Khoosal. “Especially for larger homes… you may want to get a pro to set up the network properly, so that all your devices work (from any location).”

Reliable contractors

If you want to make your home more sustainable, Khoosal’s number one tip is to leave it to professionals with proven track records, which is where Kandua comes in. 

Visit kandua.com for details.