Recently Filed in Green Technology

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

The California Energy Commission (CEC) delayed a vote on setting new energy-efficiency standards for TVs in the state, planning to now address the issue at its Nov. 18 business meeting. The Commission is considering proposed sales restriction for energy-hogging TVs that will be imposed in two tiers, in January 2011 and January 2013, though the first phase of restrictions will not include TVs larger than 58 inches. Click here to read the proposed energy requirements. The proposal has generated much controversy, pitting the environmental advocates… View this story
Displays • Flat Panel • HDTV • LCD • Plasma • Industry • Manufacturers • Dealers • Retailers • Green Technology • Info and Answers • Product News

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

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

Want to see how future homes may look and what green technologies they will include? Check out the virtual tours of homes built for the Solar Decathlon held recently in Washington, D.C. The Solar Decathlon is a biennial competition among college and university students to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house. The green technologies extend far beyond solar technology, though. The temporary homes built on the National Mall featured everything from automated window louvers that help regulate temperatures to… View this story
Climate Control • Green Technology • Cool Homes

Tahl Milburn has no problem admitting to his geek-hood. By day he manages a strategic IT consulting practice in San Francisco, “but my top hobby has been home automation since I was 12 years old,” he says. A couple of years ago when he moved into a new 2,600-square-foot home with panoramic views of San Francisco Bay, Milburn repeated the same DIY performance that put him on the cover of the March 2003 issue of Home Automation magazine, formerly an EH sister publication. This time,… View this story
Home Control Systems • Green Technology • Cool Homes

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) hails the smart grid as one of “5 Technology Trends to Watch” in 2010. The CEA’s annual list is a barometer of emerging technologies. CEA research finds that 70 percent of Americans are concerned about the cost of their monthly electricity bill, which is predicted to rise with growing demand. In writing on the smart grid, Chris Ely states: “Energy efficiency and green-energy production (including solar, wind and hydro) is a growing component in national energy policy. In fact, the… View this story
Industry • Power Management • Green Technology • Info and Answers

One of the main tenets of green building is “Do you really need that?” Less becomes more. Smaller becomes better. And 8,000-square-foot homes are not supposed to be. A home that size should not be considered green, says green designer and consultant Michael Anschel of Otogawa-Anschel Design-Build in North Minneapolis, Minn. “The resource consumption, water consumption, land-use are all obscenely out of scale with what is appropriate, let alone required, for living.” Custom homebuilder Margie Hamrick of Ecoexistence in Vail, Colo., would disagree. She’s the… View this story
Home Control • Home Control Systems • Lighting Control • Lighting Control Systems • Green Technology • Home of the Year Awards 2009 • Cool Homes

The owners of this New Jersey home are downsizing their lifestyles and investing in green building techniques and clean energy sources like geothermal (heat and cooling from ground sources). But that doesn’t mean they’re not going to enjoy the conveniences of home electronics. In fact, home technology will help them be even greener. “We’re doing it for ourselves,” says this homeowner. “We want a healthy house to live in and raise our kids in. The second driving force is that energy is not going to… View this story
Miscellaneous • Green Technology • Enhancements • Info and Answers

Thinking of buying energy-efficient LED (light emitting diode) fixtures for your home? There are a lot of LED lights on the market today, but buyer beware. Good, long-lasting LED lights are also available—and will generally cost more. Here are some things you should check out as you shop: Where’s the power supply? Most LEDs require low-voltage, so they must have an AC-to-DC adapter, transformer, or power supply to operate them. These can be internal or external to the fixture. Color Temperature, or Correlated Color Temperature… View this story
Lighting Control • Fixtures and Switches • Green Technology • Info and Answers

Almost everyone by now knows the long-term benefits of a smart grid: It will displace much of our country’s oil imports and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But arriving there could take decades. Even arriving at a workable smart grid is a massive undertaking, necessitating the establishment of hundreds of standards so the grid’s many pieces and parts can work together in a reliable and secure way, according the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in its draft of a Framework and Roadmap for Smart… View this story
Home Control • Industry • Networking and Communication • Power Management • Green Technology • Info and Answers

The fight over proposed sales restrictions of energy hogging TVs in California is raging on, with both sides making impassioned cases before the California Energy Commission (CEC) in a public hearing yesterday, Oct. 13. The CEC has proposed limiting the sales of TVs in the state to only those that meet energy-efficiency standards, starting in 2011 and with a second, stricter tier of requirements in 2013. Trade groups such as the Consumer Electronic Association (CEA) and the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA) oppose… View this story
Displays • LCD • Plasma • Industry • Manufacturers • Installers • Dealers • Retailers • Power Management • Green Technology • Info and Answers