This time of year is challenging when it comes to maintaining a comfortable temperature in our home. During the day we've been leaving the windows open, which means it gets quite warm upstairs by the time the evening arrives. At this point we often flip on our air conditioner so we can sleep cool, but then we wake up freezing, and in the morning it's back to the heater for a few hours.

Mother earth is not to be tamed, but with our homes and our central heat and air, we try! For most of us, we have to get up and turn the ceiling fan on, we have to physically set the options of cleaning on our dishwashers and washing machines. The technology revolution is always in motion, homes are no longer just houses; they’re becoming "smart". As our children grow older they will no longer have to physically get up to regulate the temperature (or anything for that matter).

One day it will be possible to maintain a single temperature in the home, and the cost of energy will hopefully not be what it is today, given the efficiency of the materials our homes are being built with.

Are you familiar with Nest and Ecobee?

If you keep up with home tech news, you would have heard of the Nest. This is perhaps the first most popular and widely spread modern technological home thermostat in the world. It's easy to use, touchscreen and basically works like a normal thermostat except it's digital and can be automated by your smartphone. However, it doesn't actively adapt to a temperature of your house as a whole. The Nest third generation is a great product as it will learn your habits when you first install it and then make a routine for you. However, the Ecobee doesn’t do this, and you’ll have to set your own routine by hand. The big selling point for the Ecobee is that it has a secondary sensor that comes along with the purchase. If there’s one room in your home that gets particularly hot or cold, then place the sensor in that room. Ecobee will then try to find an average for what the overall temperature of the house should be. This means that it's able to learn and adapt so that you can keep one consistent temperature throughout the home.

Remember as a kid when you had a very hot summer, and you opened all the windows in your house, but it still wasn’t enough? This is when your ceiling fan was turned on, or the ugly plug-in fans were brought out of storage. Today there are different options for a smart ceiling fan, and they can be controlled by a remote. I've never been a fan of fans (air blowing on me) while I'm sleeping, other than while I was pregnant, it was a must. For some of us, fans are the only resolve when the summer heat arrives.