Everyone knows that CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps) and LED (light emitting diodes) fixtures conserve electricity. CFLs are four times more efficient and last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, while LEDs use less than 10 watts of electricity and have even longer lifespans. They’re both great energy-savers, no doubt. But a 4,000-square-foot green home in Raleigh, N.C., proves that it’s possible to get even more efficiency out of these new… View this story
Fixtures and Switches • Lighting Control Systems • Shades and Blinds • Cool Homes

Some guys love power tools. Some love cars. Some are happy with a comfy chair, a remote and something to nosh on. Then there are those who need to go above and beyond—to create a space that most men only dream about. Today, we call these spaces “man caves.” In these caves, though, the only things being fired up are amps, Blu-ray movies, video games and gigantic TVs (sometimes multiple… View this story
Home Theater • Cool Homes • Slideshows

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… View this story
Home Control Systems • Green Technology • Cool Homes

For legendary blues guitarist BB King, the thrill isn’t gone when it comes to touring. The 83-year-old “King of the Blues” is still on the road with his famous Gibson guitar “Lucille” performing 100 concerts per year. And King gets from gig to gig on more than just a simple set of wheels. King rides in a $1.4 million, 45–foot luxury motorcoach that has more than $200,000 worth of electronics… View this story
AV Components • Blu-ray • Digital Media Servers • Multiroom Audio • Multiroom Video • Receivers • Set Top Boxes • Displays • HDTV • Lighting Control • 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… 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… 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… View this story
Home Control Systems • Green Technology • Cool Homes

Sequels usually aren’t very good. But the updates made to this fully-automated haunted house make it even better than when we wrote about it last year. Digital Panacea, an integration company that does a lot of Home Automation Inc. (HAI) control system programming, revisited its spookiest client for a pre-Halloween tune-up. Halloween Park, a haunted attraction outside York, Pa., isn’t a typical haunted house. It’s interactive, meaning that visitors must… View this story
Home Control • Home Control Systems • Cool Homes • Slideshows

When you think of custom home theaters, special illusions usually don’t come to mind, says Rob Roessler of Illinois-based Audio Video Concepts. He was happy his team could add a little slight-of-hand for the homeowners and guests. On top of the usual theater “magic”—like everything working properly, easily and blowing away the viewers with outstanding performance—this room features a slickly designed screenwall in which the 110-inch Stewart screen appears to… View this story
Home of the Year Awards 2009 • Cool Homes

This home’s a good example of a custom electronics pro at work. Large home, working parents, three children, basic subsystems to integrate, and easy operation required for everyone. Illinois-based CE pro Architectural Audio & Video pulled it off without a hitch, and the benefits of home technology have been great for this happy family. “The homeowners of this project are both working professionals with three young children, which made their… View this story
Multiroom Audio • Multiroom Video • Home Control Systems • Home of the Year Awards 2009 • Cool Homes