Recently Filed in Thermostats and Sensors

Your thermostat just got a little smarter. You can thank the Radio Thermostat Company of America (RTCoA), who just announced the CT80, a Wi-Fi based programmable communicating thermostat. Based on GainSpan’s GS1010 SoC (System on Chip) device, the unit promises energy management and home automation beyond your wildest dreams—or at least your HVAC dreams. Just add the thermostat into your setup and the unit can connect to your wireless home network. This allows you to access the unit from any computer to conserve energy, which… View this story
Thermostats and Sensors • Enhancements • Product News

Thermostats have gotten smarter. They’re able to adjust automatically to converse energy and stay in synch with your daily schedule. Unfortunately, many of these smart stats look pretty much the same as they did 10 years ago. AMX and other companies want to change all that, by adding some visual pizazz to their thermostats. The AMX ViewStat is one of the first thermostats with a color display. The current indoor and outdoor conditions come at you in color instead of boring black and white. It’s… View this story
Climate Control • Thermostats and Sensors • Home Control • Info and Answers

Controls and cables—they often go underappreciated within the electronics spectrum. Cables and wires are the nitty gritty that too often are an afterthought in your entertainment purchase and setup. Then you start scratching your head as to just how important these runs are as the central nervous system of your A/V. The old joke with controls was the basket of six remotes to control six different products. Now we have spiffy, versatile and extremely intelligent remotes. On top of that, we have automation systems that… View this story
Cables, Wires and Tools • Audio Cables • Video Cables • Remote Controls • Thermostats and Sensors • Products of the Year Awards 2008 • Home Theater • Home Control • Product News • Slideshows

It’s hard enough to remember your keys—how will you remember to unplug appliances when you leave the house? Black & Decker will keep you in check with its Power Monitor. Set this baby up, and your energy bill will be blaring in your face 24/7. That will teach you to turn a few things off! The unit has a constant peek at how much electricity you use, as well as the cost in dollars and sense. The product includes a wireless sensor that attaches to… View this story
Thermostats and Sensors • Gadgets • Green Technology • Enhancements • Product News

No one likes coming home to a hot (or cold) house. DLP has designed a small device to help keep your home’s comfort level constant. The DLP Design Data Center System can remotely monitor temperature and humidity through the web. When readings fall below predetermined levels, the unit sends you an email. That way, you can start sweating before you even step in the door. The company says the unit is also perfect for monitoring baby rooms, storage in the attic, or your wine cellar.… View this story
Thermostats and Sensors • Web Services • Home Control • Product News

The way heating costs are rising these days, you’re going to want to do everything you can to save this coming fall and winter. The Z-Wave Alliance, the consortium that touts the Z-Wave wireless technology, celebrated the second anniversary of its Advanced Energy Savings Thermostat Device Class this week by debuting three more Z-Wave-enabled thermostats. The new devices are the Intermatic CA8900, Wayne Dalton WDTC-20 and RCS TZ43. That brings the total of Z-Wave thermostats to 12, which are fully compliant and play well with… View this story
Climate Control • Climate Control Systems • Thermostats and Sensors • Home Control • Enhancements • Product News

There are solar panels on the roof. There are monitors in the house that display energy savings. And there are efficient compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) throughout. All very green—and very automated. We should say very, very automated. Lights come on and turn off automatically. Blinds shut when it’s time to cool the home. Beyond the energy-saving green functions of this abode, a sophisticated home control system provides security alerts in a woman’s voice—yes, the house talks—and can be controlled by voice commands. Incoming phone calls… View this story
Home Security Systems • Surveillance • Climate Control Systems • Thermostats and Sensors • Home Control Systems • Voice Recognition • Lighting Control Systems • Shades and Blinds • Green Technology • Home of the Year Awards 2008 • Home Control • Cool Homes • Slideshows

Frank Laskey measures the energy his house saves in microwave pizzas. He taps a wireless Crestron web tablet to navigate to a web site, where he can read out the savings resulting from his solar photovoltaic (PV) system and GridPoint battery backup system. Colored graphs show that in the past 30 days, his photovoltaic and GridPoint system has produced 297 kilowatts and purchased just 19.8 kilowatts. “Over 90 percent of my power has been generated by my own system,” he smiles. With another click or… View this story
Climate Control Systems • Thermostats and Sensors • Home Control Systems • Green Technology • Home of the Year Awards 2008 • Cool Homes • Slideshows

Sure, you have a programmable thermostat. That’s great, but do you have one that can learn your heating and cooling patterns and adjust it, or display when you need to change a filter on your HVAC system? Control systems manufacturer HAI (Home Automation Inc.) has one. The company recently announced its newest generation of programmable communicating thermostats, the Energy Star-rated Omnistat2, which won a CES Innovations Award in the Home Appliance category at January’s Consumer Electronics Show. The Omnistat2 is a seven-day programmable communicating thermostat… View this story
Thermostats and Sensors • Green Technology • Home Control • Product News

Looking for that last-minute gift to keep someone warm this winter? You may want to make it insulation. Or maybe a nice tube of caulk and some weatherstripping. You have about another week to buy insulation and other energy-saving materials before tax credit for these items expire, according to the Alliance to Save Energy. You can apply for a tax credit of up to $500 per household if you buy before Jan. 1, 2008. The tax credits expire on Dec. 31, and at the present… View this story
Thermostats and Sensors • Green Technology • Info and Answers • Opinion/Soapbox

I don’t say enough about Home Automation, Inc. (HAI), the New Orleans-based manufacturer of home automation products. You have to respect a company that’s been at it since ’85, and managed to stay slightly ahead of the curve by generating a healthy list of “connectivity partners” to increase interoperability, incorporating a well-known wireless technology standard into its products, AND keeping energy efficiency a priority. HAI’s latest release of products - the Omnistat-Z line of thermostats – bear all the hallmarks of an HAI product line.… View this story
Thermostats and Sensors • WiFi • Home Control • Product News

Home Automation, Inc. is really king of all thermostats. They just announced another option into their line: the Omnistat-Z. Each of the units in this line has something that other wireless programmable communicating thermostats (even those from HAI) cannot stake claim to: they have built-in Z-Wave technology. Using that mesh-networked magic, these units can coordinate temperatures based on time of day, who’s home, and other settings. Five models compatible with different types of HVAC systems are available. Each provide remote access, either through the web… View this story
Thermostats and Sensors • Home Control • Enhancements • Product News