Eco Houses Valrico FL

Source: CUSTOM HOME Magazine
Publication date: November 1, 2007

By Rebecca Day

The term “smart home” can easily conjure up ideas of automated convenience functions that most people could live without—spas that heat to the perfect temperature while you're driving home from work or a refrigerator that calls the grocery store when it runs out of milk. In reality, the “smarts” in smart homes are nothing more than clever software programs written to meet the lifestyle needs of homeowners. Today more and more luxury homeowners want to put that brainpower to work on energy-efficient abodes that manage a home's daily functions in the most earth-friendly way possible.

To have a smart home—in which subsystems like lighting and HVAC team up to automatically respond to certain conditions—you need subsystems that have the ability to communicate their status. Some do that independently and others work best with a master control system that manages the tech chat.

A Crestron TPMC-15 touchpanel is the go-to device in EcoManor, an Atlanta-based real-world home that is doubling as an educational resource for area builders, architects, designers, manufacturers, and homeowners. David Hardy, president of Interior Media, programmed the touch-panel to control Crestron's own lighting system, three controllable thermostats, an array of Philips TVs, a Niles Audio multi-room music system, and a theater full of audio/video gear.

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