Given the massive energy cost increases in the UK over the last couple of months.
And we are looking 25p per kWh and likely to only increase.
Add in the likelihood of tiered tariff pricing coming for peak periods.
So I am now looking to Home Automation to help.
Already gone around and moved batches of devices that use standby power onto INNR zigbee plugs (which use about 0.2w per hr) and when I declare Goodnight they all get powered off.
Also migrating my Plex server from three Drobo arrays/2011 iMac to two 12TB external HDDs on an M1 Mac mini and expect to reduce daily usage for Plex from 3.5kW to 1.5kW - hoping even lower - will know when I have it all set up. That alone should save over £120 a year on my current tariff of 19p per kW.
When I purchase my next house in the next 12 months I expect to install whole batteries and perhaps solar.
QUESTION
Does Hubitat have any Apps to assist in energy management?
How are people using Hubitat to save energy?
I am interested as I believe the rapid cost increases are focusing the mind..
My house is 100% electric, as my heating is via an Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP). I've focused my energy (Sorry ) to date on tracking usage against events, although HE is not aware of all devices within my home, obviously.
Perhaps also turn off stuff rather than investing in new. One part is managing cost, another part is the environmental consequences of constant upgrades. I used to leave a server running with some media and all sorts on it, now it stays off until I need it (which isnt super often anyway, and some things have a small cache that gets dumped when it is turned on). Things like my networked printer and other electrical items drawing more than 1-2W are now off by default and only take an extra 10-20s to be ready once turned on. Sure its a bit annoying every now and again, but I have the benefit of saving money AND stopping the creation of tons of WEEE.
Obviously you could apply that to the entire smart home ecosystem, but I've got my phantom load down to <120W (which is mainly router/POE switch (which powers cameras/hubitat) plus lights, kitchen kit and a few smart devices on standby)
I live in the US. My home uses a gas boiler for heat in the winter, and electric heat pump units for cooling in the summer. My hot water heater is gas fired too. I would describe gas as pretty cheap, and electricity as moderately expensive here in NY. And I’m certainly no expert, so I’m not sure how much my situation can be applied to yours in the UK.
But I would focus my cost saving efforts on heating and cooling, whether it’s through the smartest tech in the world, or much more basic stuff like identifying weak spots in the home’s insulation, making efficiency upgrades to the equipment responsible for heating/cooling the air and/or water in the home, stuff like that.
Over here, the cost of that tends to dwarf anything we can gain by monitoring and shutting off errant electrical loads (for the most part). But again, YMMV.
I have a pile of zwave 13a sockets that measure power and I am using those on the high energy discretionary items and graph using Hubigraph.
I have just been playing with Homey and really like the built in Energy management - on Devices that do not report energy consumption like a Hue light bulb - it correctly identifies that it uses 0.5w in standby and 9.5w when on 100% - it then reports by room how much energy is in use, it varies the energy usage of the Hue light bulb by the % dimming in effect.
It also identifies Sonos Standby and full power.
The logs from all devices is automatically collated, and stores hourly temp/energy readings for a a few days, then it stores daily averages/maximums then weekly and monthly so you can show usage in graphs all built in over a year or more.
At the moment my energy costs are ballpark £1,500 in Elec and £500 in gas for heating hot water.
The heating hot water systems are all managed my HE, each room is it is own zone and heating is managed based upon usage and occupancy. So that is all running efficiently - normally the solar flare on Sunday spiked the power for the house and took out my zwave boiler controller - so waiting for the replacement while we use a manual controller.
All lighting is LED/ Hue.
Have put in about 30 odd Greenwave sockets that monitor heavier usage devices.
Have bought a slack handful of INNR Sockets that use zigbee for controlling devices on standby - Sonos - groups of Hue lights, TV etc as the INNR Sockets use 0.2W in standby compared to the 3.5W sonos Ones and the sub/Arc uses even more.
So far just powering down standby systems pretty crudely - ie when Goodnight occurs, 10 mins later power them off, and power them back up when Good Morning is triggered.
So that turns them off for 10 hours a day. I have motion sensors in each room so can make them more presence driven.
I think that I will be focused on reduce energy consumption while using a battery system to time shift energy capture during cheap rate and use throughout the day.
Currently have a lot of devices in the house that are powered down when not in use, including all the lighting and heating systems.
Now looking at further reducing total energy consumption down by another 25% over the next month or so, automating the powering down and powering up.
The printer is turn on by an Alexa command and auto shuts off when the power usage goes down, or 30 mins at the latest. The same as the walking machine. Tool/Battery chargers are turned on by voice and will shut off power for charging devices once they have reached their charging goal.
I have a Plex server with 3 Drobo arrays that is drawing 3.5kW a day, which is in use a lot all day and night, it has all my music and audiobooks as well as my ripped movies and TV Shows.
I am replacing it with a Mac mini M1 and two 12TB HDDs that should see it drop substantially.
I am now working on fixing the shadow usage for the new TV and sound system.
So moving in the right direction - but think all this could be substantially improved by a Home Automation Hub that was supportive/ actively seeking energy reduction.
Having now run the new M1 Mac mini with 2x12TB and 2x2TB drives for a week instead of using 3.5kW per day they now use ~600w per day.
1,000 kWs per annum reduction, at current rates £200 pa reduction.
Having said that the new Mac mini cost £1,299 - 1TB SSD, 16GB RAM so at current rates will take 6 years to achieve ROI.
But it is highly likely the Elec per kW will increase to 30p, if it does then the return is 4 years.
All my Macs run for at least 10 years.
The only reason I am retiring my 2011 27" iMac is because it uses so much energy to run.
I was using the 2 12TB drives s backup for the Drobos so just urned it around - now use the 12TB as prime and backup to the Drobos so the only need to be on for a day per month.
) to date on tracking usage against events, although HE is not aware of all devices within my home, obviously.
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