Recently Filed in Climate Control Systems

Worried about what your family might be breathing? Before you pass out dust masks to the kids, you might want to get some SmartSense. Broan’s new ventilation system provides monitored, continuous ventilation, promising good indoor air quality. SmartSense works with Broan’s Ultra Silent ventilation fans to create fresh air throughout the home. Just install the fans in your bathroom, laundry room, rec room—wherever you could use a little ventilation. A Broan SmartSense control is connected to each fan, with one being the master. All controls… View this story
Climate Control Systems • Enhancements • Product News

How would you like to live in a house that is powered partly by solar panels, can smart-charge your electric car at off-peak hours to save you electricity, and has an energy monitoring system so you can see your electricity usage? If you had this today, you might be the chancellor of the University at Colorado in Boulder, CO. The chancellor’s house has been equipped by Xcel Energy, GridPoint and other partners in a Smart Grid Consortium that is building the nation’s first SmartGridCity in… View this story
Power Management • Climate Control Systems • Automotive • Green Technology • Web Services • Enhancements • Info and Answers

Nothing says comfort like air conditioning in the summer. Now ICM is tweaking that temperature to keep the cool, create better breathing conditions, and save you some cash all at once. The CC750 Comfort Control Center is an advanced motor speed control, which connects to your AC or heat pump. From there, it offers humidity control as well as reduced energy costs. By creating drier conditions, homeowners can raise thermostat temperature without sweating up a storm. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, every two… View this story
Climate Control Systems • Humidity Control • 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 game rooms, and then there are some wild game rooms. The showcase room in this home is another story: It’s dedicated to wild game. The owner of this 12,000-square-foot Dallas home has been going on safari trips to Africa more than once a year for nearly a decade, and when he had his sprawling residence constructed, he wanted to highlight a trophy room. It was also the impetus for bringing an electronic systems installation company on board, since the owner needed proper humidity… View this story
Climate Control Systems • Rec/Play Room • Home of the Year Awards 2008 • Cool Homes • Slideshows

A green home? For Electronic House’s Home of the Year? Yes and you bet. For the first time, our grand-prize winner is an energy-efficient, sustainable home that’s made largely from environmentally friendly materials. And yes, it has plenty of electronics. In fact, the home’s control system, lighting and shading systems help to save energy. Energy efficiency and sustainability are important to many of us today, and this home proves that you can be a good steward of the Earth while enjoying the benefits of the… View this story
Climate Control Systems • Home Control Systems • Shades and Blinds • Green Technology • Home of the Year Awards 2008 • Multiroom AV • Home Control • Cool Homes • Slideshows

Poker table? Check. Pool table? Check. Kitchen? Check. Grill? Check. Big TV? Check and double check! Unlike most renovations that include all of the above, this remodel isn’t in the basement but rather in a cabana by the swimming pool. Throw in other goodies such as an Xbox 360, access to a 400-disc DVD/CD changer, an iPod dock, an exercise room and an outdoor living area, and it’s no surprise that Ryan and Wendy Turner entertain lots of guests at their Fresno, CA, home. When… View this story
Climate Control Systems • Home Control Systems • Exterior • Home of the Year Awards 2008 • Multiroom AV • Cool Homes • Slideshows

Managing four kids in a normal-size home can be hard enough. Keeping track of them in a house that measures 20,000 square feet could have been nearly impossible for the owners of this sprawling estate, had it not been for the home management system that was installed into the residence by Electronics Design Group (EDG) of Piscataway, NJ. A team of home systems designers divided the residence into several zones, each of which could be controlled independently from a Crestron home management system. From any… View this story
Climate Control Systems • Home Control Systems • Home of the Year Awards 2008 • Home Theater • Multiroom AV • Home Control • Cool Homes • Slideshows

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

‘Tis the season for CES announcements. With the mega-trade show just a few weeks away, manufacturers are getting giddy with delight—and already leaking new product info. HAI will have a few interesting offerings, including a new communicating thermostat and also a program that allows remote control of various home systems. The Omnistat2 is a 7-day programmable communicating thermostat designed to precisely control the temperature and humidity within the home. The company says that it will soon start to “learn” your home’s heating and cooling patterns,… View this story
Portables • Climate Control Systems • Home Control Systems • Lighting Control Systems • Web Services • CES • Home Control • Product News

Gary Seamans warms his Midwest home with liquid propane, courtesy of a 1,000-gallon tank buried in his backyard. The fuel has kept his house toasty for years, but not without a few minor inconveniences. In the past, the only way Gary could monitor how much fuel remained was to walk 200 yards from the house and shine a flashlight down a small opening in the ground to read the gauge. “No big deal in summertime,” says Gary, “but not when there’s two feet of snow… View this story
Climate Control Systems • Touchpanels and Keypads • Home Control • Info and Answers