Why Smart Lighting in Your Home Is Worth It
When you think about it, lighting your home is pretty basic. With the flip of a switch, you turn the lights on or off. While the no-frills way of controlling your lights has been the go-to for decades, smart lighting is changing the way people manage their lights.
How many times have you gotten halfway to work and remembered you left the bedroom light on? And how many times have you walked into a room in the dark and fumbled around looking for the light switch?
And you surely groaned in aggravation while relaxing in bed because someone didn’t switch off all the lights downstairs.
And you probably don’t want to count the times you grimaced while skimming your electric bill.
Well, life (read: technology) finds a way. Smart lighting benefits not only your home and wallet, but also your lifestyle.
Smart lighting takes your home’s lights from basic to advanced, allowing you to turn your lights on or off from anywhere, control your lights with your voice, or connect to your entire smart home system. In short, smart lighting.
Whether you are in the market for a smart lighting system, or just want to know what smart lighting can do in your home, this guide can help.
What Is Smart Lighting
Smart lighting uses smart home technology that lets you automate and remotely control your home’s lights. By replacing traditional light bulbs with Wi-Fi connected smart bulbs, smart lighting provides a more convenient and energy efficient way to control your home’s lights.
With traditional lighting, you turn your lights on and off with a switch on the wall or on a lamp. With smart lighting, you can use an app on your phone to set lights to turn on and off automatically. This allows you to control your lights from anywhere and provides more options than simply “on” and “off.”
These systems utilize a combination of sensors, wireless communication protocols, and smart algorithms to give users unprecedented control over their lighting environment. The days of traditional light switches are long gone since smart lighting enables easy voice commands or screen taps to modify brightness, color and scheduling dynamically.
A Few Advantages of Smart Lighting
It Saves You Money
It’s a serious benefit: Smart lighting saves you money.
As a general rule, an automated lighting system uses LED smart bulbs. Meanwhile, LED light bulbs use about 90% less electricity than incandescent bulbs, and LED bulbs also last about 25 times longer than old-fashioned incandescent bulbs, so buying and replacing bulbs are rarely necessary.
And as for your electric bill, the cost-savings are clear: Less energy equals lower payments.
Just by switching to LED light bulbs, U.S. homeowners save an average of $225 annually. To boot, lighting your home comprises at least 15% of your electric bill.
Speaking of energy efficiency and smart lighting benefits, that “smart” part pays off.
Leaving your lights on means you use even more energy, naturally leading to higher electric bills. A smart lighting system gives you ways to avoid using that extra energy from automatic dimming to remote shutoff.
In other words, a smart lighting system illuminates your home when you need it. All the while, smart LED lights use significantly less energy and decrease your home’s environmental impact.
It Makes Your Home Safer
No one particularly likes to arrive home and meet a dark driveway and a pitch-black house.
With smart lighting, you can open an app and activate your exterior and interior lights anytime. It doesn’t just give you peace of mind, although that’s a stellar advantage in itself. An unlit home looks enticing to potential burglars – they’re not in the spotlight. With smart lighting, you can illuminate your home at any hour as well as set motion sensors that kick-start bright lights at common entry points.
And you can do so without leaving your lights on 24/7 (which, of course, saves money).
It Makes You More Secure Too
A smart lighting system doesn’t stop at deterring would-be burglars. Your personal safety is one of the many advantages of smart lighting.
Motion sensor-activated smart lighting makes the hallway, stairs, and door far safer.
Those middle of the night kitchen raids are less likely to lead to stubbed toes, at the very least.
But if you’re a parent or older adult living with a disability, you can see how smart lighting is invaluable. Say your toddler likes to take laps in the hallway at 3 a.m. With smart lighting you’ll know they’re up (and also know they’re not a burglar).
Meanwhile, you can run less risk of slips, trips, and falls. You can instantly see where you’re going and brighten the lights with a voice command if necessary.
Pro Tip: A smart lighting system gets a major upgrade with a smart surveillance system. Smart cameras and lighting work together, so you can see from any angle and review footage.
It Customizes the Mood
Changing the mood in our home may not seem as important as money and safety. Still, it’s one of the many benefits of smart lighting you might overlook.
It’s a fact too: Color affects how you feel and think. You can harness that in your home’s smart lighting! If you want your lighting to shift, open your app and select its shade, hue, and intensity.
Modern mood changing smart lighting fits anywhere in your home. You can opt for recessed lighting, LED strings, single bulbs or another imaginative setup. You might also designate zones for different spaces and situations to set moods.
Getting amped up for the big game? Try red, orange or yellow smart lighting tones in your home theater. Gearing up for work? Go for a blue, green or violet scheme in your bedroom fixtures.
As far as sleep, set an amber or warm white light to fade to darkness. Blue may whisper “peace,” but it’s not ideal for sleep. Modern smart lighting can even match your circadian rhythm, so you wake up refreshed and doze off easily.
And if smart lighting benefits your well-being, we think that deserves a spot on our list.
It Gives You Long-Distance Control and Convenience
We’ve mentioned how one of the advantages of smart lighting is remote control. But let’s get a bit deeper into that convenience.
Let’s say you are halfway across the country on business. You check your smart home app to take a look around and notice your kitchen lights are still on. As long as you have a signal, you can flick off that kitchen light in an instant.
But smart lighting systems have more miniscule controls. Remember the lighting zones we mentioned? It’s part of geofencing (an invisible boundary for a real-world geographical area). For example: With geofencing you can create “triggers” so that when a device enters or leaves a pre-defined boundary, a device turns on. This way a nicely lit house awaits you when you come back from work.
You can sync, loT tech (utilizing an internet connected device with sensors and actuators controlled through a centralized system) to run on autopilot in designated areas. You just select your system’s settings and go about your day. For example: All your home’s entrance lights gradually brighten at sunset and dim at sunrise.
An audiovisual (AV) installation company can customize a small lighting system that offers easy-to-read graphs and data. When you know what you use most and what you can do without, you can lessen energy consumption.
Don’t think your access stops at an app. A smart lighting system can come with sleek touchscreen panels, remote controls, and dimmers. It’s all part of a setting designed to make your life better.
It Enhances Entertainment and Events
Savings, safety, well-being, and convenience – what else could we list? How about fun? You have every reason to enjoy smart home entertainment to the fullest.
A smart home lighting control system plays a huge part in creating unforgettable experiences. Whether you’re streaming the latest flick in your living room, taking a tranquil bath or cooking a romantic dinner, smart lighting polishes the moment.
You might integrate smart lighting with a high-performance audio system for unparalleled parties. Maybe you want to really knuckle down on Halloween and chill the neighborhood kids with spooky lights. Or maybe your poolside get-togethers need safe lights with luxurious ambiance.
Whatever your mood, your moment needs – peace, suspense, action – smart lighting offers it. Those seemingly humble smart light bulbs pack a punch.
Addressing Common Concerns
Despite the numerous advantages of smart lighting systems for home automation, some may have privacy, security, and cost concerns. Addressing these concerns is essential to provide a comprehensive understanding of the technology.
Privacy
With devices increasing connectivity, privacy concerns are valid. However, reputable smart lighting systems prioritize user privacy by implementing robust encryption protocols and giving users full control over their data. Additionally, many systems offer options to turn off data collection and ensure that personal information remains secure.
Security
Like any connected device, smart lighting systems are susceptible to hacking if not adequately secured. Choosing systems from trusted manufacturers with a proven security track record is crucial to mitigate this risk. Strong passwords and routine software upgrades are also essential for defending against attacks.
Cost
While the initial investment in smart lighting systems may seem significant, it’s essential to consider the long-term benefits and potential cost savings. The energy efficiency of these systems can lead to substantial reductions in utility bills over time, offsetting the upfront costs. Furthermore, the added convenience and customization offered by smart lighting systems may outweigh the initial investment for many homeowners.