Home Automation for Green Living
Green Living. It’s the buzzword of the day. I think we can all agree this term has different meanings for different people and we all apply our energies toward that goal in various ways and in varying degrees.
For example, while some might say they are living green because they’ve cut TV watching out of their routine one evening a week, others may feel “green living” must include an extreme reduction of natural resource consumption — and a vegetable garden in the backyard. Between those two extremes there are an unimaginable number of variations.
Energy Reduction for Green Living
When talking about reducing energy consumption as a means of living green, LEED will most likely come up. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is one of the most popular green building certification programs used worldwide. The buzzword green living has grown out of one of the key concepts of LEED, which is to support the efforts of commercial and residential property owners to be environmentally responsible and use resources efficiently.
At Absolute AV Consulting, we have tools and solutions to support your green living initiative. Let’s take a look at some of the ways we can help…
Lighting The Way
Automating your internal and external lights can be a great way to save energy, but one thing we often don’t consider is that management of our window spaces can contribute to that as well. Powered shades can be set to raise at just the right time to take advantage of natural daylight and then lower when daylight begins to wane. Shutting shades during the hours of brightest sun can also save your carpets and furniture by preventing fading from the sun!
Taking it a step further, daylight harvesting can result in even larger energy savings. Daylight harvesting is when a system uses daylight to offset the amount of electric lighting needed to light a space. This is accomplished either by dimming light or switching it on or off in response to changing daylight and also considering whether or not someone is currently in the space. If you’ve ever worked in an office building where lighting turns on when you walk into the conference room, that is a feature of daylight harvesting. Basically, the light is off until the system senses it is needed.
Stupid Is As Stupid Does
Another way to manage energy consumption is to control heating and cooling within a space. An unmanaged (not so bright) HVAC system is a quick way to overuse energy (and money). On the other hand, a smart HVAC is the quickest way to recapture those lost dollars and reduce your energy consumption (go green!).
Absolute AV specializes in systems that automate the regulation of temperature as you come and go. Alternatively, you may prefer a system that gives you all the control — allowing you to manage your temperature at any time, from anywhere!
When The Cat’s Away
Have you ever come home from vacation to find your furnace has gone on the fritz or your plumbing has sprung a leak? The inner workings of the home can be sly and deviant; lying in wait until the precise time when — you’re not around.
Typically when these sorts of issues occur, it is discovered way too late — the damage has been done. Absolute AV can install utility monitoring that will notify you the second a utility deviates from the tolerances configured in the system. Utility monitoring can potentially save you many $$$’s (and wasted resources) by allowing you to take care of the problem before severe damage occurs.
It is true that Green Living means different things to different people. What does it mean to you?