Recently Filed in Home Control Systems

David Bohnett’s Los Angeles and New York City residences may stand thousands of miles apart, but they function as if they are one—at least when it comes to their ability to communicate. A sophisticated Panasonic phone system, combined with a Crestron automation system, tie the two homes together to create a powerful communications network that takes Bohnett’s business and personal life to a whole new level of efficiency. Should somebody press the door intercom button at the New York home while Bohnett and his partner… View this story
Home Control Systems • Telephones • Home of the Year Awards 2009 • Cool Homes

Want all of those Christmas tree lights controlled right from your TV screen? How about holiday songs going in every room in the house, easily controlled, selected and navigated as part of a multiroom audio system? There’s still time to enter the Electronic House and Control4 “What Do You Want to Control?” contest, in which to enter you must also give us an idea of what you’d love to control, in a 150 word or less entry. We’ve been highlighting your submissions on a weekly… View this story
Home Control Systems • Manufacturers • Product News

When is the best time to have full electronic control over your house? Often it’s when you’re away. It’s easy to control your home while you’re there, but when you’re at work or on the road, it’s tough to know which electronics have been left on, sucking up electricity, when they really should be off. “Turning things off is the basic tenet of saving energy,” says Jay McClellan, president of HAI (Home Automation Inc.), a manufacturer of energy-conscious home control systems. A remote monitoring system… View this story
Home Security Systems • Remote Monitoring • Home Control Systems • Security • Info and Answers

Building a house can be a major stress-inducer. There are almost always setbacks, cost overruns and other unexpected angina producers. Stir in the prospect of building green, and those setbacks can become lengthy delays, cost overruns can become major budget busters, and the angina—well, let’s not even think about that. Despite the dangers, Kimberly Lancaster and Joe Hageman have bravely waded into green home building—even incorporating home technologies to make their soon-to-be completed coastal Rhode Island home as energy-efficient and sustainable as possible (click here… View this story
Home Control Systems • Lighting Control Systems • Green Technology • Cool Homes

Energy efficiency and technology are big topics at this year’s Greenbuild show taking place in Phoenix, Ariz., where the movers and shakers of the growing green movement are urging attendees to go beyond plucking the “low-hanging fruit” of energy savings and take the extra steps toward deep energy savings. “We are in a time now where we really have to make big changes,” said Al Gore, in the show’s opening plenary session on Wednesday night. “It’s time for us to shift to a new kind… View this story
Lighting Control • Fixtures and Switches • Power Management • Home Control Systems • Green Technology • Info and Answers

It’s not enough that this Balinese-style home is located in the paradise known as Honolulu. We get to be envious of its sunny home electronics systems too. That’s because custom electronics professional iDesigns by Michael outfitted the tropical home with 32 zones of streaming media, and full access and control of all systems from touchscreens in every room. “The home is open and inviting, enticing guests to savor the Balinese style and the rich woodwork that surrounds you throughout the home,” says iDesigns principal Michael… View this story
Multiroom Audio • Multiroom Video • Home Control Systems • Lighting Control Systems • Home of the Year Awards 2009 • Cool Homes

Every day on Electronic House we try to give you good ideas and inspiration for ways to improve your home through technology, including the convenience benefits of home automation. So we’ve been pleased to see all of your creative ideas on how winning a home control system could benefit your own abode. You’ve been serving them up to us in the form of entries for the “What Do You Want to Control?” contest that Electronic House teamed with manufacturer Control4 to provide. The contest is… View this story
Home Control Systems • Manufacturers • Product News

Want a “net-zero” home that produces all of its own electricity? No problem. You just estimate how much energy you’ll use, then buy enough solar panels to produce all the electricity for your needs, right? If there’s some energy-efficient home technology, like a home control system that shuts things off and some lighting control, even better. But what if, say, you worked backwards on that as did Jabar McKellar of Envision Solution in Dublin, Calif. McKellar designed a system in this 4,300-square-foot home, in which… View this story
Home Control Systems • Lighting Control Systems • Green Technology • Cool Homes

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, where electricity usually isn’t an issue, you’ve probably heard about standby, phantom, or vampire power. (They’re all the same thing.) It’s the phenomenon that occurs when your home electronics or appliances continue to consume power—even when they’re “off.” This is caused by ghostly apparitions, pixies and blood-sucking ghouls who perpetrate this when we leave our electronics alone or go to sleep. Just kidding. Standby, phantom, or vampire power—whatever you want to call it—is caused by digital clocks, LED… View this story
Power Management • Line Conditioners • Surge Protectors • Home Control Systems • Green Technology • Info and Answers

Home energy monitoring may be about to go mainstream. It’s made it into at least one spec home, this one constructed by Mark Johnson Custom Homes in Wilmington, N.C. It’s part of a green home that the builder intends to make LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified, meaning it has many eco-friendly and sustainable features, from the insulated concrete form (ICF) walls to low-flow water fixtures to a rainwater harvesting and underground irrigation system that will save $70 to $100 a month in… View this story
Home Control Systems • Green Technology • Cool Homes

We’re still looking for your ultimate home control wish list. Entries for the Electronic House and Control4 “What Do You Want to Control?” contest are ongoing, and you can register by entering your little essay of what you want for your own home. Each week we’ve been highlighting some of your entries to give you a good idea of what people are looking for, and to show off some of your creative thinking. Click here to enter the contest. Here are 10 more entries for… View this story
Home Control Systems • Enhancements • Info and Answers

There are lots of ways to be green—or greener—and this 4,500-square-foot designer’s delight on the Chesapeake Bay sports several of them. There’s a geothermal heating and cooling system that pulls clean, carbon-free heat from the ground. There’s a lighting control system that helps to save energy, motorized shading to keep rooms cool during the day, and easy and convenient control of everything. The green initiatives began with 14 bore holes drilled 120 feet into the ground for the geothermal heating and cooling system, which pulls… View this story
Climate Control Systems • Thermostats and Sensors • Home Control Systems • Green Technology • Home of the Year Awards 2009 • Cool Homes