In the residential custom installation business we typically think of
ourselves as experts in audio/video, lighting, computer, and home
control systems. Now many of our clients are beginning to ask how much
electricity, gas, and water their family is using and how can they best
monitor and control this usage. Providing a low-voltage solution to
answer these questions can be an extension of the solutions that we now
provide our clients, offering the custom electronics integrator an
additional revenue source for our total home control solutions.
Key Components
There are two key components that define these energy and water
management solutions. First you need a software platform that can read
and display the actual electrical, gas, and water usage in the home
(and that properly ties into a home control system that can trigger
events to cut the consumption of these services at appropriate times).
Second, you need the proper control-wiring infrastructure to measure
electrical current, gas, and water usage with a measurement sensor at
each of these locations.
Typically, running Cat-5 wire from a control point back to a head-end
rack is all the wiring you will needbut the challenge is knowing what
points you want to measure. To gather this information accurately, you
should develop a detailed questionnaire for your client that asks
exactly how much and how detailed the information they want should be
about their energy and water utilization. Sample questions about what
your clients want to measure may include:
For water usage:
- The water consumption at each toilet, sink, and shower n The irrigation systems water consumption
- The water the pool and/or hot tubs are using
For electrical:
- The current usage at every electrical outlet or just each circuit
- The current supplied from solar PV panels if they are installed
Each of these locations will require running a Cat-5 wire from the
head-end control processor to these various locations around the home;
some of these will be indoor runs, some will have to be run outdoors.
We normally dont think of running Cat-5 wire to toilets, sinks, and
shower locations, but we may find ourselves re-thinking our standard
wiring run schedules. Until they offer Cat-5 bundled plumbing pipes, we
will have to run this wire ourselves.
Once the wiring and sensor infrastructure is in place, we need a
control software platform to read, monitor, and display this
information. Ideally this software would work with the existing home
control platforms that we now install so that there would be a
consistent user interface for the homeowner and energy conserving
triggering events could be programmed. Two companies that now offer
these software tools in the residential market include Agilewaves (
www.agilewaves.com) and Lucid Design Group (
www.luciddg.com).
Agilewaves now supports Crestron, AMX, and potentially other control
companies in the near future. Agilewaves has developed the Resource
Monitor, which continuously measures electric, gas, and water
consumption of a home or business, calculates its carbon footprint in
real-time and makes this information readily available on a
wall-mounted touchscreen or a password protected Web page.
Lucid Design group supports Control4 and Crestron. Their Building
Dashboard product offers a wide range of options for displaying the
performance of a home. Electricity, water, and natural gas consumption,
as well as solar electricity production, solar thermal production,
rainwater use and grey-water recycling can be displayed in real time,
in a single location on their Web-based portal.
At CEDIA EXPO this month I would expect to find a number of additional
new entries in this space as our clients demand to know more about the
electrical, water, and gas usage in their home and what they can do to
control these rising costs. Its in our interest to provide these
products and services, not only for our financial bottom line, but also
to enhance our reputation as socially responsible companies.