Saving Energy and Money with Smart Technology – Terms of Service with Clare Duffy

Welcome back to another episode of Terms of Service. I’m CNN Tech reporter Clare Duffy. Autumn is upon us, and nationwide, electricity bills are surging. On average, Americans are seeing their bills increase by about 6%, double the pace of inflation. And for some consumers, like those in New Jersey, Maine, and Utah, the spikes are more than double that. There are a number of reasons for those rising prices. Among them, the insatiable power demands of new AI data centers. So what options do everyday Americans have to lower their bills? Could more smart technology in your home be the solution? To help me answer this question, I have Rachel Cericola here with me. Rachel is a writer for Wirecutter, the New York Times product review site. She covers everything from smart lighting and bird feeders to wifi cameras and home security. She’s been on the smart home beat for 25 years, and she explains which tech gadgets could lower your living expenses. My conversation with Rachel, right after this short break. Hi, Rachel, thanks for doing this.

Hi, thanks for having me.

So you cover smart home devices. Is your home filled with these gadgets?

‘Oh, yes. One of the great things about Wirecutter is we long-term test everything that we review. So I have everything in my home from smart plugs to a thermostat, to cameras, to security systems. It’s pretty stacked.

All the things. So the average consumer will see advertisements for lots of different kinds of smart devices. But when you’re wanting to cut back on your energy usage, what kinds of gadgets are out there for people?

Well, it depends. When you’re talking about energy, smart thermostats and smart plugs are probably my two favorites. But you can also save water using sprinkler controllers. And then there’s a whole tier of other devices that I consider to be damage control, like water leak sensors, leak valves, humidity sensors, and smoke detectors. They’ll save you money in the long run if you have an emergency.

Got it. Will you go into a bit more detail about those top two picks, the smart thermostat and the smart plugs? What do they do? How do they work?

Well, smart thermostat connects to your wifi and allows you to tweak the temperature in your home to the way you like it. A lot of smart thermostats can learn your habits. So they know when you get up in the morning and when you’re not there, there’s occupancy sensors on them that can tell when you are not there. So you’re not cooling down a house that doesn’t need it. And smart plugs can tell you what are the energy hogs in your homes. You just plug them into an ordinary outlet, plug any device, a lamp, a fan, or anything into the smart plug and you can control it, make it go on and off from your phone. You can schedule it. So it goes on maybe when you get up in the morning, off when you go to bed at night, but also a lot of them allow you to actually look in the app and see how much energy they’re using.

‘And they connect to your Wi-Fi, they connect your phone, just gives you like a bit more control than actually having to walk over to interact with a gadget.

Got it. In my house growing up, there was always this thing where we like tried to unplug devices when we weren’t using them. It’s something I still make an effort to do if I’m going out of town or something, not leave things plugged in that I’m not gonna be using. Does that actually make a difference? Do these devices suck energy when we’re not actively using?

‘You’re describing something called vampire power and it used to be more of a big thing. Now that devices are a little bit more energy efficient, it’s not as big of a deal. I don’t recommend you running around and unplugging things. Okay, good, this is good to know. But if you’re that concerned about it, it’s very easy and inexpensive to buy a smart plug and just plug it in and you can turn it off. I know that even though things like curling irons and hair straighteners have built-in safety, I still get freaked out about them. So I like to have one hooked up to a smart plug.

That’s such a good idea. I have been there many times where you’re at work thinking, did I unplug my curling iron?

How do you go about researching and evaluating the various devices that you’re reporting on?

First of all, everything that we look at, anyone can purchase on their own and install on their own. The first thing I look at is whether it works as advertised. If it doesn’t work, right away I know I don’t wanna continue my testing. But ease of use is a big factor. We spend a lot of time looking at what it’s like to use a device and whether it’s something people would wanna use, whether they could use easily. Then I look at things like price and unique features. Those are basically the main things I look for.

Are there devices that you feel like have made the biggest impact on your life, whether it’s convenience or conserving resources, saving on electricity or utility bills?

My personal favorites are smart lights. I have a pet peeve when my husband leaves all the lights on in the house. And also I don’t like coming into a dark house. I’ve stubbed a few toes over my time. So I really love smart lights, they’re very easy to install. You can buy a smart bulb, it’s as easy as installing a regular light bulb. And I find them to be the most helpful.

Got it, so that’s like you can turn on the lights on your app before you walk in the door.

Yes, but I also have one set up that go on and off at specific times of the day. So I don’t ever have to touch them at all.

But those smart lighting is probably the thing that I use every single day.

Got it, and does that have electricity usage benefits as well?

I mean, there are a lot of LED bulbs out there that aren’t smart devices. And so those are very energy efficient as is. I think that if you don’t have LED bulbs in your house, you should probably replace them if you wanna save a few dollars. But lighting, it does save money, but it’s not as much as you hope.

A smaller piece of the pie.

Yeah, not as much as something like a thermostat or anything related to HVAC.

And something like a smart thermostat, how big of an impact could that potentially have on your energy bill? Is it two bucks a month? Is it 10 bucks a months?

‘It really depends on things like where you live, what kind of house you have, how many people are in your house. There are studies that say that you can save at least 8% of your annual heating and cooling bill. And we’ve encountered some manufacturers that claim that’s up to 26%. But like I said, there’s a lot of factors going into it, but also things like smart ceiling fans, fan switches — there’s smart fan switches — and even smart air conditioners. They can all make an impact on your bill as well.

Got it. And some of these devices are fairly pricey themselves, but they can also potentially save people money. How do you think about how people should navigate that? Like what is actually worth it in the long run to shell out for?

Oh gosh, that one’s difficult. You really have to think about cost benefit. You know, it might look like a luxury on the surface, but smart home has a lot of value to it. If you’re finding that you have this outrageous air conditioning bill, like I do in the summer, then a smart thermostat might be worth it to you. But overall, it really can improve your quality of life, whether it’s keeping you on a schedule or it’s like organizing your shopping list. I think we think of these things as small things, but that tiny thing of organizing your shopping list can really just, it takes a lot of stress out of your life. And also if you’re looking to purchase, especially something like a smart thermostat, there are a lot companies that offer rebates and incentives, so that’s definitely something to look into.

Good to know. As you mentioned, some of these smart devices can be set to follow your schedule or routines to make your life easier with apps. Talk a little bit more about the different kinds of controls. Like, you know, when you talk about your smart home, are you like potentially walking into a room and like clapping a light on or speaking a light on, like how do these things work?

I’m not clapping any lights on, but I use a lot of voice controls, which I know some people don’t love, but I love them. I love being able to sit on the couch and tell my thermostat to turn down or turn lights on. It’s not just easier, but there are a lot of benefits to people with accessibility needs, people that have mobility issues, maybe they have dexterity issues. Voice control is huge and it’s just very convenient. Maybe you’re on the other side of the house or your hands are full. So I love voice control, but otherwise you can control through an app or like I had mentioned scheduling things to go on and off at certain times of day. You know, there’s a feature that a lot of devices have called geofencing where it’s basically creating this map that shows where your smartphone is and, say you’re on your way home, it’ll know to, I guess, turn the heat on right now. It’s getting a little cooler out, or it’ll turn the lights on. You can set up routines that maybe a camera outside sees that someone’s out there, it turns the lights on. There’s a lot of possibilities that make these devices even more useful.

What are the companies behind these gadgets do with the data, whether it’s, you know, your location data as you’re moving around or your voice data as your talking to these things? I feel like when people hear smart home, sometimes they might get a little freaked out about these sensors and these gadgets that gather data.

It’s hard to know exactly what companies are doing with your data. They’re not very forthcoming with that information. We actually did a huge project earlier this year about privacy and security and your data and certain devices in the home. I can tell you that a lot of them, they use your data for marketing purposes. It’s really important that when you get a device that you read through the privacy and security agreement, not just click OK. Just so you know what you’re getting into, things like geofencing location, you don’t have to share those things. You do need to share it to enable certain features such as geofencing, but you can get along without it as well.

When we come back from the break, Rachel will explain how to get the most bang for your buck when using smart technology and how to avoid common pitfalls when installing smart devices in your home. Are there common mistakes that you see when people are trying to become smart home gadget users?

‘Oh, absolutely. The first thing is if you have bad Wi-Fi in areas of your house, your smart devices are not gonna work there. A lot of people have bad Wi-Fi and they don’t realize it until they try to hook something up and it doesn’t work. I always tell people to take their smartphone to an area before they install something, especially something that might be permanent, like a security camera or even lighting. If your phone can’t get a signal there, then chances are your smart home devices aren’t going to get a signal there either. There are things you can do to create a better network. Maybe you put in a mesh network or an extender or repeater. Those are different devices you can set up.

‘How do you make sure these devices stay working? Like, what happens if your electricity goes out or your Wi-Fi goes out?

‘So, that’s tough. If your Wi-Fi goes out, then most of them you can’t use. There are certain devices you’d have to look into the manufacturers and the types of devices. I have smartlighting and smartplugs in my home that will work locally. So if my connection goes down, it still works within the home. It won’t work outside of the house. So that’s an important thing to look at. Like you just wanna make sure you have good Wi-Fi, you know, ’cause to keep everything functioning properly. And just make sure they’re physically clean, dust every once in a while. It’s also really important to vet the company that you’re purchasing a product from. You wanna make sure they have a good, stable track record of support and repairs. A lot of these devices get regular updates. You wanna to make sure the company has a track record of doing updates for not just new features, but security fixes. That’s a big thing. And just that the company will keep supporting those devices. For years after you purchase them.

‘Talking about the wi-Fi piece, like if your Wi-Fi goes down, can you still turn your smartlights on with a switch or adjust your smartthermostat with a button? Or are you really out of luck there?

That’s actually a great question. All of those devices have manual controls on them. So yes, you can just walk up to the thermostat and adjust it. You can use a light switch or if you’re using a smartplug with a lamp that has controls, you can use that. It’s very easy to control manually. If you’re outside of the house, no, you’re out of luck. But yes, most devices have manual controls on them.

You’re not gonna be sitting in the dark somewhere.

Something I’m curious about, thinking about the energy implications of using some of these devices. If a lot of people start using these smart devices, could that potentially have a major impact on our collective energy usage? Like, is there a bigger environmental implication here?

I mean, that’s tough to say, but I think just like we have more energy efficient cars, we have more efficient fixtures and appliances. It all adds up on a massive scale. And with how much heating and cooling and lights account for, I think there really is amazing potential there.

So, what is the best first step for folks who are just getting started exploring smart home gadgets?

‘We always look at smart home as problem solvers. So I would say the first thing you should look at is what problems do you wanna solve? Is it that you’re coming into a dark house every night? Is it, that you have this huge energy bill? Is it that, you know, someone’s stealing your mail? So maybe you wanna look at a problem that needs to be solved. And then from there, I always tell people to kind of start small. A smart plug or a bulb is an easy, inexpensive way to get into smart home. Both of them don’t have huge impacts on your energy bill. But once you experience not leaving the lights on all day or not falling up dark porch steps, you’ll see the benefits and one add-on. As I had mentioned before, if you’re looking at something like a smart thermostat, you should definitely check to see if there’s programs in your area. Your utility might offer rebates on equipment or some sort of other incentives.

Awesome. Well, Rachel, thank you so much for doing this.

Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.

If you’re thinking about installing smart products in your home, here are some key takeaways to make sure you’re doing it safely and in a way that could actually save you time and money. First, smart technology should generally act as a problem solver. Once you determine the biggest inconveniences in your own daily life, you can refine your search to the most impactful products for you, not just the ones that are popular or trendy. Next, outlets like Wirecutter test and review products so you can make smarter decisions before you buy. You’ll want to know how reliable different products are and how long they’ve lasted for other users. Remember, a cheap upfront cost doesn’t necessarily correlate to the best results or the biggest savings. And finally, smart gadgets in your home can collect personal data. It’s important to ask yourself what information you’re comfortable sharing in exchange for certain conveniences. Stay attuned to privacy policy updates and changes in how your data is being used. That’s it for this week’s episode of Terms of Service. I’m Clare Duffy. Thanks for listening.