Smart Ceiling Fans – Making Life More Comfortable And The Home More Energy Efficient

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, Americans spend about 12% of their energy expenditures on air conditioning. From an environmental standpoint millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide are released into the air each year as a result of air conditioning.

Ceiling fans are an excellent solution particularly in areas with long stretches of warm weather. They don’t actually cool air but move it around, which makes people feel cooler because moving air helps to evaporate perspiration, which cools the skin. They are also used in the colder months to move the warm air. Ceiling fans can help to eliminate some of the need for air conditioning and lower heating in the colder months. Most fans have a winter mode that fights heat stratification. By changing the direction of the fan to clockwise, an updraft will be created, recirculating heat, making the room feel warmer. Both in the warmer and cooler months, ceiling fans can save energy and save money.

Although air conditioning makes us comfortable it wastes a good deal of money and a lot of energy. Ceiling fans are an excellent solution. They are an energy-saving method of making a room feel cooler/warmer, but they have recently become a whole lot more sophisticated. 

Today, ceiling fans join the ranks of all of the other “smart” technology we have in the home, including smart lights, smart shades, smart thermostats, and so on. today. Several companies are now offering smart ceiling fans.

The Haiku fan, by Big Ass Fans was one of the first smart fans on the market. According to the company, it is still the only one using a proprietary patented automation technology (SenseMe), which combines occupancy, temperature, and relative humidity sensors in addition to Wi-Fi connectivity integrating with Alexa and Google Assistant. Haiku fans are equipped with a computer and an array of sensors. The mechanism monitors environmental conditions, turns itself on when people enter the room and off when they leave, makes speed adjustments to keep the room comfortable, and programs itself to the homeowners’ preferences. Smartphones can be used to schedule the fan to turn on and off with an optional LED light that can be programmed to go on in the morning for a gradual waking-up. 

Modern Forms is another company producing smart ceiling fans. Their fan is designed to adapt to the homeowners routine while reducing energy costs. Each smart fan is wet-rated for both indoor and outdoor applications, and powered by a quiet DC motor that they say is 70% more energy efficient than traditional AC motors. A feature of their app is “Adaptive learning” where by the fan can learn the user’s patterns and turn it on and off at certain times of the day and night.  If the user would rather use a more traditional control system, the fan works with the wall control that comes in the box with the fan.

Smart fans from both companies have an app via Wi-Fi which can manage fan speed and luminaire brightness, integrating with other smart home devices, such as Google Assistant, Amazon Echo using voice command, and can adapt to the homeowners’ schedule. These devices will turn the fan and luminaire on and off, change speeds, reverse the rotation of the blades during cold months, and dim the lights. They can also sync with smart thermostats such as NEST or ecobee leading to energy savings throughout the year. The fan when integrated with a smart thermostat will automatically turn on and off based on the HVAC status at the home. When the HVAC turns on the air conditioning, the smart fan will automatically turn on to Summer mode which assists in circulating the cool air throughout the area letting the HVAC turn off faster. Similarly, when the HVAC turns on the heat the smart fan will turn on to Winter mode helping heat the area faster which lets the HVAC turn off faster. By running the HVAC less often, the homeowner will end up saving money on energy bills.

From any iOS and Android device, the user can control everything from turning the light on and off, dimming the light from less than 1% to 100% brightness, scheduling from 7 days to up to 365 days, changing the fan level from 1 to 6 and setting the fan on away mode which turns the fan and lights on and off making the home look occupied even when it is not.  Many of the smart fans are equipped with an energy efficient LED luminaire.

When the homeowner is considering purchasing a fan they need to consider the blade size, whether it is ENERGY STAR rated, wet-rated, has multiple speeds, whether it includes lighting, whether is has the smart features that serve their purpose and of course if it fits in with their decor.

This post first appeared on Forbes.com. To see the original, click here.