Builder - February 2009 - (Page 65) DIGITALHOME SMART TECHNOLOGY FOR NEW HOMES ■ EDITED BY DAN DALEY ENERGY SAVINGS Smart Meters Coming soon to a basement near you, utility companies will be able to interact with your home control systems. E lectric utilities from coast to coast spent much of 2008 rolling out smart-meter installation pilot programs. Expect in 2009 to see this trend expand significantly and also to begin to tie into home automation systems, possibly even accelerating home automation’s own growth on the coat tails of the next generation of how we measure energy. Home automation systems developers and manufacturers, including ZigBee and Control4, have announced smart-meter initiatives and products in recent months. Smart meters use microprocessors and RF wireless connectivity to communicate back to power companies’ central server systems. From there, energy flow can be monitored on a house-to-house basis, allowing utilities to interact with the flow of power to homes, enabling the utility to cut the power as needed during emergency peak periods to avoid overloading grids and wider, uncontrolled power failures. But that’s just for starters. The strategic goal of smart metering is to let utilities interact with the home directly. Homes with automation systems on which ride major electrical appliances such as HVAC and refrigerators can have the power consumption of each appliance measured remotely and, ultimately, the utility will have the ability to turn appliances down or off as needed during peak periods. Major home appliance manufacturers such as Whirlpool, GE, LG, and Samsung have already developed fully addressable, IP-enabled devices that would be accessible through smart meters. The trade-off to the homeowner and builder will come in the form of cost savings. As smart meters track power consumption hour by hour, the utility gains the ability to create differential pricing schemes, charging more, say, for power that is used to run air conditioning during a summer heat wave and less during more temperate periods or overnight, when fewer appliances are in use. Certain devices that consume large amounts of electric power, such as clothes dryers, will also be able to be adjusted to do much of their work during off-peak times.—D.D. coming about, we find ourselves challenged with trying to maximize space and still keep all the necessary toys for our customers,” says Gabe Karlis, president of JD Audio & Video Design in Ft. Lee, N.J. “The most obvious way is by centralizing our control systems and avoiding local components, such as DVD players and cable boxes, stealing space from each room. Not only does it offer some great functional options, but it also frees the homeowner or designer from adding extra furniture to house these components. We also like to reinforce to our customers who may want to integrate their lighting, HVAC, and alarm control into one system that by doing this, they will free up precious wall space and give the house a very clean and larger appearance.”—D.D. R Never Too Thin eQuest’s new TS6 in-wall touchscreen music system controller is designed to mount flush with the wall, requiring a mounting depth of only 2 inches. It features a full, 640x480-pixel, 5.7-inch touchscreen and is easy to configure to provide full control of any ReQuest F-Series, N-Series, or iQ Intelligent Music System. The TS6 connects to a home network and automatically finds any connected ReQuest server. SPACE SAVER Eco Cash Scaling Back Smartly Integrated home automation can help a smaller home feel larger. C T he new trend toward smaller homes is a reversal of two decades’ worth of expanding floor plans, a time when, according to Associated Press statistics, the median-sized single-family home went from just under 1,600 square feet to over 2,200 square feet. As the size of homes retreats, how can technology help builders offset the perception of a smaller home? “Luxury can compensate for size,” notes Jeff Singer, marketing communications director at Crestron. “The last thing you want in a smaller space is lots of wall clutter, which makes a space feel even smaller. An integrated home control solution provides a sleek, minimalist installation.” Michael Carter, director of technical sales at AMX, further notes that even if square footage is decreasing, automation can increase the value of the space. “A smart, energy-efficient home should provide pricing support to enable home builders to leverage these technologies to increase value per square foot,” he says. “With the new trend of smaller, more efficient homes omverge’s PowerPortal IHD allows consumers to closely track their electricity consumption and receive messages or alerts from their utility provider, making it easy to manage their energy usage in real time. Wireless communication allows for use anywhere in the home. The system receives electricity consumption data wirelessly from a residential smart meter using the ZigBee Smart Energy Profile. DO YOU HAVE A TECH STORY? E-MAIL DENISE DERSIN AT: ddersin@hanleywood.com W W W.BUILDERONLINE.COM f ebrua ry 2 0 0 9 BUILDER ■ 65 http://WWW.BUILDERONLINE.COM
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