OUR HOMES transformed

Revolutionary technology can help cut the carbon footprint of our homes. Take control of your energy bills with a smart meter

Within the past year or so, many of us have had the time to take a second look at our homes, or indeed a third and fourth. Previously, five-day working weeks, office commutes, the school run and the hustle and bustle of everyday life took up lots of time and energy. With life now more centred around the home, we can devote more of our time to tweaking and elevating our interiors.

When you do manage to turn your attention to sprucing up your pad, the options today are limitless. Thanks to clever innovations, you can visualise paint colours, pieces of furniture and other items in your home before you’ve bought them.

There are so many switches you can make to improve your home’s look and feel, but how about its carbon footprint? Getting a smart meter installed could not only help you cut down on your domestic energy waste, but also take control of your gas and electricity bills and start to save money. Want to know how? Read on to find out more.

Designing the future

When it comes to planning out our home spaces, the age-old issue has always been the inability to see the size of an object in situ before we buy it.

Let’s say you’re finally treating yourself to a brand-new sofa for the living room. You can get the tape measure out and compare against the product specifications all you want, but there’s simply no substitute for seeing exactly how the shape, colour and texture of it interacts with the rest of the space – until now.

Today, many interior and furniture retailers offer CAD (computer-aided design) technology, which allows you to see exactly what a piece will look like in your chosen room. Some have apps that allow you to plot out the exact measurements and shape of your room and create your dream space, swapping out accessories and pieces of furniture until you get the perfect look.

Many more paint suppliers have online features that will allow you to take a picture of your room and virtually paint the walls with your chosen colour.

It’s staggering how far home innovation has come in such a short space of time.

The future is smart

Modern technology has truly opened up a whole new world of possibilities for decorating our homes. But what about the way they run? That’s where smart meters come in. When you get one installed by your energy supplier, its handy in-home display – a handheld digital device that sits in your home – will show you in nearreal time how much energy you’re using, as well as how much it’s costing you.

So when you start making changes around the home, you’ll start to see the benefits with your own eyes. For example, choosing an A+++ fridge freezer over an A+ unit will save you about £190 in energy bills over the

17-year lifetime of the product.

By getting a smart meter, you’ll be joining the millions of people across Britain who are doing their bit to reduce energy waste on a national scale. And that all adds up to an energy system that’s better at coping with the demands of the 21st century, while also making the best and most efficient use of renewable energy sources like wind and solar power.