Smart plugs have long been available to fill in the gap and make any product or piece of equipment that uses electricity ‘smart.’ The smart home gadget market has been around for a while and introduces new products and appliances annually, such as the smart plug. There was a time in the technology industry where you would only participate if you were savvy enough to understand concepts like the Internet of Things or IoT. Also, as you can imagine, it’s a pretty expensive world to tap into. However, that has long changed. In fact, over the past few years, production has seen the smart home market explode in offerings and popularity… and a large part of that trend has been smart home product affordability, as well as products being intuitive and easy to use. What Is a Smart Plug?
Smart plugs are small products that plug directly into the outlet in your wall. They have the same outlet openings on their side to allow you to plug products into the smart plug, as you typically would into the wall.
Within the smart plug, though, is where the magic happens. Smart plugs could be controlled remotely or automatically, connecting via WiFi to the rest of your smart home devices. This connectivity gives users the ability to turn a smart plug on and off from the Atlantic Energy App on their smartphone, or with the voice command used with Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home. Users can also set up an automated schedule ahead of time via the Atlantic Energy App.
The ability to control whether the product plugged into your smart plug is on or off remotely, without needing to be in the room or even in the house, is the crux of a smart plug’s ability. It also is affordable and can be used by anyone to improve the smart aspects of their home.
How Do You Use a Smart Plug?
Smart plug use depends on the exact model you purchase because different products have their separate instructions and functionalities. Broadly speaking, once you plug your smart plug into the wall, you’ll be able to follow the product’s directions to connect the smart plug to your Atlantic Energy App. Once connected, all you ever have to do is activate and deactivate the smart plug and whatever you’ve plugged into it will turn on and off instantly. You can plug your smart plug into a lamp, an entertainment center, a fan, or anything else with a plug load.
Smart Plug Benefits?
There are plenty of benefits when using a smart plug. May it be automation to saving energy, there are plenty of ways to create a more efficient and environmentally safe environment in your home.
You can set up the smart plug to work on an automatic timer, such as connecting holiday decoration lights, so they automatically get powered on when the sun goes down, and it will even power off when you go to bed.
The possibilities for how to use this function stretch as far as you can be creative. For those who love staying in bed, you can use the smart plug to turn the bedroom lamp on or off without even jumping off your mattress! You also don’t have to get up in the middle of the night to change the temperature, and you can turn on your slow cooker when you’re not even home.
Smart plugs don’t just allow the flexibility to make your home products smart and convenient. They also can easily open up the door for energy efficiency and eliminating wasted energy anywhere across your home. This feature ensures your smart home is also an eco-friendly green home.
How Much Energy Do Smart Plugs Use?
Increasing sustainability and going green with smart plugs are key to a healthier home. Smart plugs use about 1-2 Watts of power. Your energy bill is measured in kilowatts per hour. That’s 1,000 Watts to 1 kWh. So, 1 Watt of power can translate to 8.76 kWh of electricity over one year. That’s a lot of potential energy saved.
Common Uses for Smart Plugs?
Smart plugs create the ability to reduce energy use during times when energy going into devices in your home would be inherently wasted. For large houses or homes with children, a common source of energy waste comes from leaving the lights on when no one is home.
With lights connected to a smart plug, you can have peace of mind by checking and turning off the lights that may have been left on and were drawing power when you’re not home. Users can also automatically turn off lights during specific times when homes are always empty.
Going further, a common source of wasted energy is when large electrical setups remain plugged in and take up power even when they’re off. A typical example is a home office that has its computer, monitor, printer, fax machine, and phone all plugged in. This takes power from standby use.
Another example is a home entertainment center. These rooms have televisions, cable boxes, AV receivers, DVD players, video game consoles, etc. all plugged in and drawing standby power while not in use. If these setups were to be plugged into a smart plug, then users can automatically turn all of these devices off with the single press of a button when they are not in use, or tell the smart plug to turn them off during the expected hours they will not be needed, and thus potentially save all that wasted energy!
Are Smart Plugs Worth It?
Increasing sustainability and going green with smart plugs are key to a healthier home. Smart plugs use about 1-2 Watts of power. Your energy bill is measured in kilowatts per hour. That’s 1,000 Watts to 1 kWh. So, 1 Watt of power can translate to 8.76 kWh of electricity over one year. That’s a lot of potential energy saved.
