No, Milburn controls heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) his own way. It starts with multiple smart thermostats from Residential Control Systems. Each unit has four different set points: The most extreme setback occurs in VACATION mode, followed by UNOCCUPIED, then ASLEEP and finally OCCUPIED.

A few algorithms were required to coordinate the modes with the neural network, but it’s child’s play for Milburn. Enter the motorized shades. “My house faces east and west,” he says. “If it’s too warm, the shades will lower automatically.”

Again, no big whoop for Milburn. “Where it’s pretty smart is with the weather station,” he explains. “Being in San Francisco, it can be foggy, so the system uses a combination of the intensity of the light, plus whether or not it’s foggy. It could be bright but foggy, so it’s OK to leave the shades up.”

There’s one more thing: The Davis Weather Station, together with an hourly feed from the National Weather Service, can help predict the weather. “Depending on the forecast,” he says, “if it’s going to get cold, I will start warming up the house using the motorized shades. They will stay up longer even if it’s a bright day.”
And if Milburn had his dream motorized windows, “they would know when to open up.”

For the time being, Liam will verbally suggest he open one or more windows to modulate the indoor temperature. Milburn can go to his Liam site any time, from his home or on the road, to check up on the house and make adjustments as needed. EH readers can check it out at www.liamsite.net.

Solar System
Milburn had no intention of installing the photovoltaics himself, so he hired a local firm, Luminalt, to do the job. He chose the company because they had excellent service, the best price, a good choice of attractive panels (Sunpower), as well as a gateway that he could hook into for home automation.

Through Luminalt, Milburn can track his solar-related energy savings by day, month or year, but he is waiting for the final piece of the utility-integration puzzle: The Energy Detective (TED) 5000-SG model energy monitoring device.

With that, he says, “I have the final part to monitor both sides, supply and consumption, and hook into Liam.”

For its part, Milburn’s utility provides info on the net energy usage for each of its three time periods: peak, semi-peak, and off-peak. “I’ve gone onto a different charge plan called Time of Use, in which you’re charged more during peak time and less during off-peak times, compared to normal rates,” Milburn says. “Since peak times happen during the day, I essentially have a multiplying effect with my solar system.”

The next step for Milburn? “I want to manage the use of certain optional devices for times when electricity is off-peak.”

Click here to view additional information and photos.

Page 2 of 2
Previous  < 1 2

Julie Jacobson - Editor, Electronic House; Editor-at-large, CE Pro

Julie Jacobson is editor of Electronic House and editor-at-large for CE Pro magazine, the trade magazine for home technology. She co-founded parent company EH Publishing in 1994.