Standby WattsSmart home math, device by device

Smart home

How to choose

The decisions that actually change what you end up with.

1 guides

Cylindrical fabric-covered smart speaker on a dark desk, blue light ring lit around its top edge — The lit ring is the speaker's status signal, showing it is listening, thinking or waiting to be set up.Photo: Smart Home Perfected · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Open source page

Wall-mounted digital thermostat with a glowing amber display reading 71.0 degrees Fahrenheit on auto

How to choose

Which smart home device to buy first, and which to skip

Only one smart home device has a certified savings figure. Work out the payback on a thermostat, a plug and a speaker before you buy any of them.

Updated 11/3/2026 · 9 min

Photo: TaurusEmerald · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons