2025's Must-have home automation features for modern living

2025 is set to be a big year for automation, as it goes from strength to strength, emerging technologies help to fill gaps to create an entirely automated and technologically progressive smart home. Incorporating home automation is the best way to enjoy greater convenience while also reducing your energy bills. Let's explore the top emerging trends for the year ahead.

Home automation is the use of technological "smart" systems to automate or remotely control a range of household functions. From lighting and home media to climate control, home automation provides a high level of convenience by allowing you to program your requirements in advance.

For example, smart home automation could turn the air conditioning on 10 minutes before you arrive home from work, giving you a cool sanctuary to return to in summer. It also enlists the help of technology to instantly take care of demands, such as playing music or turning on the lights.

Smart home automation is becoming essential for both homeowners and investors by adding convenience to daily life and creating additional value for the property.

Smart garage doors

Modern smart garage doors integrate seamlessly with your home's technology ecosystem, connecting to cameras, alarms, and your smartphone. You can receive notifications, can grant temporary access to visitors and track usage patterns.

They can also detect temperature and humidity and prevent heating/cooling loss with automated closure if levels rise or fall beyond a certain threshold, maintaining a comfortable environment within your home and helping to save you money on heating/cooling costs.

The E-Door Connect Garage Controller

The E-Door Connect Garage Controller is a smart solution for convenience and accessibility. Whether you're expecting a delivery or just returning home, this smart controller gives you complete control through your smartphone. It offers hands-free operation, eliminating the need to fumble for the remote.

Live tracking of the door position in the Zimi app allows you to open and close your door remotely with ease. You can also wirelessly link your Zimi switches so when the door operates the lights turn on and off automatically.

Smart Lighting Systems

Speaking of light automation, these advancements are important for both illumination and energy conservation. A standard light automation set-up can automatically turn your lights on when it begins to get dark or when you get home from work in the evening. You can also switch up the entire mood of your home using advanced lighting systems, creating mood lighting to enhance your home's atmosphere, perfect for entertaining.

Here are some examples of how light automation can help you change the way you see your home:

1. Use a voice command to control all the lights in your home.
2. Set up variables or modes, such as away mode, sleep mode, party mode, and babysit mode.
3. Use a smart dimmer switch to dim the lights slowly in your house around bedtime.
4. Use a motion sensor or door sensor to automate bathroom or hallway nightlights.
5. Use an auto off timer to set a time to turn the lights off. It can make simple things unforgettable.

Using automated lighting has benefits far beyond just the visual, it can also help improve your health. With a smart dimmer switch, your lights can dim to match our circadian rhythms, inducing a feeling of relaxation and preparing us for a good night's sleep. Motion sensors can also activate night lights in bathrooms and hallways, making it easier for children to navigate the house at night and building their confidence and self-reliance. Finally, automated lights can help us stick to a responsible bedtime routine, reminding us it's time to wind down, not put on another episode of Netflix!

Smart Energy Efficiency

Smart technology and artificial intelligence can also monitor the health of our home, the integrity of its systems, and its overall energy efficiency, including when things don't go quite right.

Installing smart water sensors on your plumbing is one fantastic way to monitor for a burst water pipe or other signs of water damage. Water sensors will help you immediately catch the leak before you get home. It sends you a notification to your smartphone as soon as anything is detected. This gives you enough time to call the plumber out before your house can sustain flood damage.

To keep track of your energy usage, you can download the free Zimi app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and use Zimi’s schedule feature to automatically turn your devices on or off at any given day or time. With the Zimi app installed on your smartphone or tablet, you will be able to instantly see the real cost in dollars and cents of each and every device and achieve energy savings on your next bill.

The use of artificial intelligence can also now integrate various smart technology devices, allowing them to coordinate with each other to achieve optimal energy usage based on your own household needs. It can also learn how much energy your household typically uses and alert you if there is a relative overuse of energy, eliminating the possibility of unexpected power bills in the next cycle.

Smart Thermostats

In-house climate automation can control your heating system, air conditioning, ceiling fans, humidity sensors, smoke detectors, and more. This not only results in creating a comfortable living environment but also helps save on your energy bill as smart technology calculates the optimal balance between comfort and energy usage.

With a humidity sensor, the bathroom fan can be automatically turned on when you take a shower or when the humidity reaches 80% or more, turning itself off again once humidity has returned to normal or other preset levels.

Programmed ceiling fans can be turned on and off at predetermined scheduled times. You can program your ceiling fans in several ways: install a smart fan, convert an existing “dumb” fan, install a smart fan switch, or add a smart bridge for fans. This means you can get the air circulating in your house mere minutes before you walk in the front door, providing a welcoming and cool atmosphere.

Smart Devices

Are you an avid entertainer wanting multi-room media streaming or music in every room?

Entertainment purposes include the distribution of media and audio to different zones in your house with the ability to play separate channels in different areas. Automating your home theatre installation can help give you the highest quality video and audio throughout the house, providing a sleek and discreet experience no matter which room you are in.

Sure to impress friends and family, a properly integrated entertainment system will make your home the go-to destination for movie nights or watching the sports finals. With seamless control, including the use of voice-guided commands and remote access, you can take full advantage of advanced features including the use of interconnected devices to watch everything you want, whenever you want.

The integration of the internet is one of the major factors responsible for the innovations taking place in smart home automation technology. With home automation technology, the possibilities are endless. You can even turn your room into a home cinema able to seamlessly switch between programs or even monitor the score of the game while you're catching up on that new series.

You don't need to have a new home to have a smart home, so enquire today about how home automation can benefit your life, including boosting your health and wellness. "Smart" is the word of the year for 2025 so consider how adding smart home devices to your household can bring you peace of mind and save you money.

Whether it is the convenience and atmosphere of smart lights, the comfort of smart thermostats in your own smart home ecosystem, or the ability to save energy and money by tracking your smart devices with remote monitoring, there is a solution for everyone.

Of course, one of the most effective solutions for home automation is to invest the E-Door Connect garage door automation option from Steel-Line, providing added comfort and control to your garage. With a range of automation options available, get in touch with the friendly team from Steel-Line today to make 2025 the year you enhance your home, now and into the future.