With food, fuel and energy prices on the rise, we’re all feeling the pinch. These gadgets could help you save money on your bills
Nest Learning Thermostat
Co-created by Tony Fadell, whose CV includes the iPod and iPhone, the Nest Learning Thermostat claims to have saved almost 40 billion kWh of energy worldwide since it launched, and offers a 10 per cent to 12 per cent saving on heating and cooling per household. The intelligent thermostat spends a week learning your heating and cooling preferences, then creates a schedule and makes small adjustments to use less energy while keeping you comfortable.
The Nest can be adjusted manually via its weighty, stainless-steel dial, but also connects to your smartphone for remote control. By knowing the location of your phone, it can turn the heating down when you go out and turn it back up again when you return.
Nest claims the thermostat will pay for itself in less than two years, based on the energy it saves.
£219, store.google.com
Tado° Smart Radiator Thermostat V3+
Controlling your heating centrally with a smart thermostat is a good start, but Tado°’s Smart Radiator Controller takes things a step further. Powered by two AA batteries, it replaces the manual temperature controller on your radiator.
Once fitted, each smart controller connects to your Wi-Fi network so you can operate your radiators via an app, or a smart home system such as Google Home, Amazon Alexa or Apple HomeKit.
Not only does this make it easier to reduce your home’s energy demands by turning down the heat in rooms that aren’t being occupied, but by knowing the location of your smartphone, the Tado° Smart Radiator Thermostat can automatically raise the temperature as you make your way home after being out. It’s also easy to set schedules for each room in the app, so only those you use regularly are heated.
Add Tado°’s thermostat to your smart home system and your home can be heated or cooled according to local weather forecasts, and the app will alert you if it thinks you’ve accidentally left a window open, or if a room isn’t heating correctly.
Based on a study into energy-saving potential within the home, Tado° claims to reduce your energy consumption by up to 31 per cent.
£119, tado.com
Philips Hue Smart Lights
LED lights are a great way to lower your home energy use, since they’re around 90 per cent more efficient than traditional bulbs. While Philips Hue smart lights consume slightly more energy than non-smart LEDs, owing to their wireless connectivity, they have some nifty features to help restore that balance.
The Hue system can be set to turn off some (or all) of your lights when you go out, lower bulb brightness, and even light up in your choice of 16 million colours. Via the Hue app, bulbs can be divided into groups and given daily or weekly schedules, and motion sensors can be used to have a bathroom light come on at night, for example.
Lastly, a feature called ‘presence mimicking’ turns your lights on and off to make it look like an empty home is occupied – a cheaper and more energy-efficient alternative to leaving a couple of lamps on all day.
From £69.99, philips-hue.com
WeeKett smart kettle
Did you know that many hot drinks are best brewed with water that isn’t quite boiling? Green tea should be 80°C, for example, and only black tea should get the full 100°C treatment. The WeeKett helps save energy by heating water to exactly the right temperature, with buttons for 70°C, 80°C, 90°C and 100°C.
With Wi-Fi connectivity and integration with the Smart Life app, the kettle can be set to any temperature as low as 40°C. There’s also the option to maintain a certain temperature for up to an hour, and a baby bottle mode heats to 100°C, then keeps the temperature at a steady 70°C for an hour.
The app also displays the current water temperature, so in some cases you can get away with making a second drink without needlessly boiling the still-hot water again. There’s also voice control via Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, so you can ask the smart speaker in your bedroom to fire up the kettle, knowing it’ll be ready when you get to the kitchen.
£89.99, weekett.com
TP-Link Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Plug
Smart plugs, like this one from TP-Link’s Kasa range, can make almost any household appliance smart. Fitting between an appliance’s plug and the wall socket, it has Wi-Fi for connecting to the internet and can be controlled from smartphone apps, home-automation systems such as Apple HomeKit, and voice assistants like Amazon Alexa.
The Kasa is quick and easy to set up, with schedules that can be personalised for every day of the week. The plug can be controlled when you’re away from home – handy if you want to check if your straighteners are off.
Although smart plugs consume energy to function, the wireless tech they use is incredibly efficient. Zigbee and Z-Wave, a pair of smart home wireless standards, account for around half a watt.
As for saving you energy, this is achieved by setting schedules that shut down your devices when they aren’t needed, instead of you leaving them in standby mode.
Research from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory showed that using smart plugs could save up to 4.58 per cent of energy usage a year – a small, but noticeable difference.
£44, tp-link.com