While technological progress and legislation have cut the power consumption of many household appliances, the onslaught of new types of devices that are always on, such as smart speakers, smart TVs and Wi-Fi range extenders, threatens to wipe out all the gains made. So, what can you do? Thankfully, Eve Energy and the Eve app feature a nifty power consumption function that lets you identify where you can achieve power savings without having to forgo any of the convenience offered by these new devices.
Eve Energy is also a really practical solution that won’t go sapping even more juice in the process. Eve Energy's Bluetooth transmitter has a negligible power output of just 1 mW and the accessory's overall consumption is significantly less than 1 W of power in any state – unlike other smart plugs out there that are always connected to your Wi-Fi network. The reliability and accuracy of Eve Energy as a power meter was approved by German consumer watchdog Stiftung Warentest with a "gut" rating.
1. Set your electricity rate in the Eve app
The Eve app not only shows you how much power the appliance plugged in to your Eve Energy is consuming, but also keeps a record of how much power has been consumed and shows you the projected annual cost of powering this appliance based on these figures and your electricity rate.
The Projected Cost offers a clear view of how much you’re spending. You’ll find it by going to the Rooms view and tapping the room name in which Eve Energy is located.
Enter your electricity rate under Settings > General > Energy Cost
Made a change and want to check the impact? Modify the calculation basis by going to the detail view of Eve Energy and tapping the Projected Cost segment. Then select a different basis such as the last day or minute.
2. Measure standby power consumption, compare power-saving possibilities
With the above-mentioned functions of the Eve app and with Eve Energy set to calculate the projected cost based on the last day or week, you can check quickly and easily whether smart control of an appliance can reduce its standby power consumption and save your wallet and the environment in the process. You can cross some devices off the list right from the get-go, such as a HomePod or Wi-Fi router which are essential for HomeKit functions; however, audio systems such as soundbars, overzealous smart TVs and set-top boxes are certainly worth checking. Check this overview (The Ambient).
3. Turn off appliances when not in use
Using schedules
If you’ve got power-hungry appliances on standby during working hours or at night that are doing zilch during this time, they’re the perfect candidates for schedule-based control.
Does your smart TV like to readily dial out even when the screen is off? As you don’t need it from around midnight to the following late afternoon, add a schedule that powers it off.
Simply go to the Schedule segment in the detail view and tap the gear icon. Then, set the weekday power off time to 1 am and the power on time to 4:45 pm. Repeat the process for the weekend, but shift the times by an hour.
After a few days, check whether the projected annual cost has dropped.
Using presence
If nobody is home, your smart speaker is just wasting time waiting endlessly for someone to ask it something. Configure Eve Energy so that the smart speaker’s only on standby when somebody is home.
Open the Home app, then tap Automation followed by the plus button. Tap People Leave and then under When: choose Last person leaves. Now tap Next.
Swipe to the list of rooms with your assigned accessories, then tap the speaker followed by Next. Ensure that the chosen action is "Turn Off".
You can also add an automation where the event When: First person arrives turns on the same device again. And there you have it: everything is now as it should be for the last to leave and the first to return – and you’ve saved the environment and your wallet in the process.
Using sensors
Fetched some tools from the workshop, didn’t return them and ended up leaving the light on for hours? If this happens to you a lot, why not have the light turn off by itself? All you need to do is hook up your light to Eve Energy and get yourself a motion sensor such as Eve Motion.
In the Eve app, go to the detail view of Eve Motion and tap the Automation segment followed by Add Rule.
Enable the trigger Motion > Motion, then tap Add followed by Next. Skip the Conditions step.
Tap Add Scene > Add Actions and then select the action Power > On for the light in your chosen room. A second rule using the trigger Motion > None and the action Power > Off will then turn off the light at the end of the duration set in the accessory settings of Eve Motion.
The really slick thing about this solution is that Eve Motion "refreshes" the active scene each time motion is detected, so you’ll never find yourself being left standing in the dark having to wave your arms around wildly to turn on the light.
Requires iOS/iPadOS 16.4 (or later) / Android™ 8.1 (or later), Matter controller / Thread Border Router
Requires iPhone or iPad with the latest version of iOS/iPadOS, HomePod or Apple TV (4th generation or later) as a home hub, Wi-Fi network (2,4 GHz 802.11b/g/n)
Requires iOS/iPadOS 16.4 (or later) / Android™ 8.1 (or later), Matter controller / Thread Border Router
Requires iOS/iPadOS 16.4 (or later) / Android™ 8.1 (or later), Matter controller / Thread Border Router
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