Top 4 Must-Have Home Security Features
We all want to keep our homes and loved ones safe. Luckily, there are many home security features available today that will help you do just that. We’ve put together a list of our top 4 must-have home security features for you to consider.
1. Alarm Monitoring
If you’re looking for a great way to protect your home, you should consider alarm monitoring. It offers a number of benefits, including protecting your property and family from criminals, fires, and other dangers. Most professional alarm monitoring services have emergency specialists working around the clock, who can respond to your alarm if it’s triggered. They’ll also notify the authorities and send first responders to your home if needed. Another benefit is that you can control non-security functions of your system remotely, such as light settings or thermostats. You can set them to turn on and off at specific times, saving you energy bills. Some systems even offer video verification, which is a great way to confirm an alarm and speed up law enforcement response. It uses a motion-image sensor to capture a video clip of the intruder and then transmits it over cellular to a central monitoring station.
2. Security Cameras
Security cameras are one of the most basic home security features, and they can provide a lot of peace of mind. You can check in on your kids when they come home from school, watch out for a dog walker or see if a package was delivered. The best ones will have a wide field of view, good resolution and two-way audio. Also, look for smart home integration. Often, cameras with scheduled functions will turn on and off, detect motion or sound, and send an alert to your smartphone at set times. This will reduce the number of false alarms and improve privacy when you’re away from home. Cameras can also run on battery power in the event of a power outage. This saves you from losing forensic evidence and helps prevent burglars from cutting electricity before breaking in.
3. Security Sensors
Whether your goal is to keep burglars out, avoid fires or other house hazards, security sensors are an essential part of any home security system. They work by instantly alerting a control panel when an intruder breaks into your home, and then signaling the control panel to sound the alarm. Sensors can be either wireless or wired, but in the context of home security, “wired” is usually used to mean a system that relies on power from your home’s electricity. Many current-generation systems also feature battery backups for their base stations, so they can still function if the power is cut. The best smart security systems offer a wide range of sensors and equipment, including indoor and outdoor security cameras, sirens, keypads and fobs. Most of these devices also connect to your network, so you can automate them from a single app.
4. Energy Management
Many home security systems are also designed to save you money on your energy bills. For example, they’ll adjust your thermostat according to the weather in your area, or change light settings so that you’re not wasting electricity when you’re away on vacation. Besides the obvious security reasons, effective energy management can reduce costs and help you achieve your company’s sustainability goals. As the ISO 50001 standard states, “effective energy management is important to reduce cost and environmental impact.” The first step in good energy management is raising awareness about how much energy you use. This will start a culture of energy performance improvement that focuses on improving efficiency. Once that’s done, you’ll want to track your progress by analyzing your energy meter data. This will show you how well your efforts have worked.