Step1
All of us are thinking more about the environment now, more than ever before. There are many things that you can do around your home to insure that you are doing your part to protect all of us. Think about the obvious first! You know, things like insulation and solar attic fans. Many older homes do not have enough insulation to meet today’s stricter building codes. Call a reputable professional to look into your options with you. Think about adding a layer to your attic and or crawl space. This can save you big with energy costs in the long run! There are new products out now that can even be sprayed in that will actually make your attic cooler as well as your home. While this avenue is not the least expensive, it does tend to be on of the best. I have had the chance to speak with many clients that have added the Icynene product into their attic. They report as much as a 50% savings on their heating and cooling costs. This is huge! One more note about this product is that since the insulation is sprayed onto the underside of the roof, there is more space in the attic to organize other things like wiring and storage. You may even find that you can spend more time up there doing other projects. My installers actually like working in these attics. They report no itchy skin at the end of the day, an increase in productivity, and no heat exhaustion! Do not forget about attic fans. Solar attic fans are simple things that can be installed that help to control both heat build up and moisture. A cool dry attic is far less costly than a hot attic. This alone will save you big! In my home, in Florida, I have seen a decrease of about 20% in the actual run time of my air conditioning system. This savings is reflected in my energy bill as well as lower system maintenance costs!
Step2
Think about adding global control to your homes lighting. You can use less energy by running you lights at 90% vs. 100%, for example. When dimming a lamp the energy saved is as high as 98% of the proportion of unused energy. Because the human eye perceives light non-linearly, it is possible to reduce light levels by over 10% before the reduction in brightness is noticed. This would lead to a near 10% saving in energy consumption. A 50% reduction in dimming levels would save around 40% of the energy. Intelligent dimmers ramp or fade a lamp to a preset level. This is particularly important when the lamp is first turned on. Incandescent lamps tend to fail at this point due to thermal shock of the cold filament. By fading the lamp to the set level, also known as a "soft start", a lamps life is extended considerably. Not all lamps are easily dimmable, some like compact fluorescent lamps, can only be switched on or off. However, energy can still be saved if they are turned off automatically when not required. For example, during a bright day the lamps near a window can be turned off where normally they would be left on.
Step3
Newer heating and air conditioning controls are essential. Add programmable thermostats in place of dated analog or digital system controls. Better yet use temperature and humidity controls that are a part of a complete control system. The system can be programmed to do many things such as to know when you are coming home, actually home, asleep, or on vacation. By simply programming a thermostat adjust to set the air conditioning or heating back during the day will help dramatically. By having a complete control system installed, you home will actually know and work around your schedule. You would also be able to control the system remotely with real time feedback. It is also possible to have several different systems communicate as to the status of the home. You can even control a system like this from anywhere in the world.
Step4
Think about automated drapes and shades around the home. These are nice to have especially around the areas of larger inefficient windows. Too much sunlight is not good for the interior of your home and can also add unwanted heat to areas that you are trying to keep cool. Shades can add some insulation to these windows and thus trapping the hot air, creating a cushion, thus keeping it away from the inside of your home. Shades can also add to privacy and security. While automatic shades and drapes are not cheap, you will use less energy by deploying them. Most of all, your home will be a much more pleasant place to live.
Step5
Many homes today feature an installed security system. Call your security system service company to see if your system can be programmed to work with your lighting system. If you are thinking about a larger home control system, find out if the security system can be added to this system. An example of technology at work here would be: Your family goes on vacation. Your alarm armed and is set to the away mode. Normally your HVAC system comes on at 3:30pm to cool the home for your arrival from the office and the kids from school. Your interior and exterior lighting system is set to come on at a desired light level based on sunset. Since your alarm system is still in the away mode, perhaps your HVAC system can see this and thus does not change the setting to start cooling. Your outdoor lighting can still activate normally but, due to the fact that no one is actually there, perhaps a lower 70% light output than the normal 90%. Your interior lights will also respond like this and can actually mimic your patterns for the last week or so. This gives the home the lived in look and also uses far less energy than normal. This example is just one of many. Think about it! Systems of today can be integrated and programmed based on the way that you actually live.
Step6
You have, most likely, a tank type water heater. Most of us do these days. These energy hogs can also be easily added to a control system. Why use energy to heat water that you will not be using in the middle of the night or during the day? Again, perhaps you are on vacation. There is no need for hot water while you are not there. Your home should know this and make the changes for you. These appliances can easily be added into a home control system. Another option is to install a tank less water heater. These systems offer hot water on demand and are highly thought of by our clients. This type of water heater typically runs on gas and can be installed into many homes in place of your existing water heater. A plumber will have to help you with determining if your home can be retro fitted with this newer type of water heater. I recommend that a plumber is contracted for this part of your project. While you are woring on this part of your project, think about adding a moisture sensor in the area of the floor around this water heater. This sensor will report a problem to the home control system and with an automatic valve, shut off water and power automatically to the appiance if a problem develops. You can explain this to your insurance agent. I'll bet you will quickly get his attention!
Step7
Do you have a pool? Well, there is much ground to cover here! As the owner of a pool I have been able to save big money and energy with some simple changes that I have made. First, if you are using chlorine or bromine chemicals, stop! You are not doing yourself any favors and you are just polluting the water that your family and friends play in. We all know what it is like to swim in a chemical pool. The skin dryness, red burning eyes, and hair color changes are more than enough to sway most of us away from using them. Last year I had our pool drained and professionally cleaned. All residue and scale was acid washed out of my pool. I then filled the pool with clean water and added a salt water chlorination system. I added the proper amount of salt into the new water for the system that I purchased and I was done! What I have in return is a low maintenance pool. In fact, I was even able to fire the pool guy! That alone saved me Seventy Five Dollars a month! You will like the results immediately. The salt water system only uses about the energy of a light bulb to clean you pool water. The salt water chlorination system uses a grid that the water passes through. Salt water passes through the grid and because salt water is a better conductor of electricity the system cleans the water. The system actually creates chlorine gas in its natural form from the salt molecule. Think for a moment, it is not the gas that hurts your skin in a chemical pool. It is all of the chemical binding agents used to hold the chlorine that hurt you. You will say good bye to all of that! The only thing that you must do is to maintain a normal Ph levels in your pool. You will enjoy clean and clear water from now on. I have and will share all of my research on this system if you decide to take on this project. I will also share my experience with the Jandy pool control system.
Step8
Most of all of the above, except insulation, can be controlled via home control system. There are several systems on the market that you may consider. I have been working with Crestron control systems for some time now. Crestron is is the world's leading manufacturer of advanced control and automation systems. Simply put, if you can imagine it, a Crestron system can control it. Not only can Crestron control your environment, their controls are actually beautiful. With proper programming, these systems are intuitive and easy to use. Crestron is green and in addition to being a member of the USGBC, Crestron is fully compliant with all RoHS and ASHRAE directives.
You did not have to grow up with a computer to enjoy a system like this! As an integrator, I understand the need for this type of residential control. As we get older and settle down, we realize that our home is a valuable asset. Our home should be a wonderful place to spend time. Our home can protect us, spoil us and entertain us. Our home can help us live greener lives and actually help to protect our planet. Let’s live better together!
How to Work with technology to make your home spoil you green!
Enthusiast 
Comments
GlindaLupo said
on 2/6/2008 What a helpful article! I will have to ask my alarm company if they can control my lighting system.
-Glinda :D