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Among home theater aficionados and those who love gadgets, it was inevitable: Why not leverage the technology that integrates audio/visual systems so it can control all the other functions in the house – with the touch of a screen?
These early adopters began outfitting their “smart homes” as long as 20 years ago. But now, fully integrated homes are finally entering the mainstream. Using a touch-screen panel, remote control, laptop, or Internet-connected cell phone, one can program and control the home’s entertainment components, lighting, thermostat – even the window shades.
“If it has power, it can be controlled,” says Dick Meyer, one of the founders of Carrots Inc., a home technology and automation firm in Sterling, VA. He adds that if a system malfunctions, it will notify Carrots to correct the problem.
Imagine turning on your home’s lights and music from your cell phone as you approach the driveway. Your outdoor lights are on an astronomical time clock, so they switch on at dusk and off at dawn, no matter the time of year. If you go on vacation, the home’s system has tracked your lighting use over the past seven days and will repeat it over the week you are gone.
You can also create your own “scenes.” A “romantic” scene will turn on the fireplace, dim the lights, and start playing music that fits the mood. The “party” setting will turn up all the lights and change the music.
Got teenagers? Chimes will sound every time a door is opened, and an alarm will go off if the liquor cabinet is breached. Remote video access will ensure no parties take place while Mom and Dad are away.
Sky’s the Limit
Almost anything is possible in home automation these days. The Jetsons would surely be impressed.
“The sky’s the limit today,” says Utz Baldwin, president of the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association. “Our clients are getting younger, smarter, faster. They don’t appreciate performance; they expect it.”
Baldwin’s group recently teamed up with the National Association of Homebuilders to create the Home Technology Alliance, which educates home builders about the value of integrating more technology into new homes.
Revenue from residential home integration systems is expected to reach $11 billion this year, up from $9.8 billion in 2007, and it will exceed $17 billion by 2012, according to a report from Parks Associates, a market research firm that specializes in emerging consumer technology.
That kind of money has brought big companies such as GE and Sony into the mix, creating pre-fab automation systems to be installed all at once, instead of a more costly custom job.
Making It Work
Either way you go, integrating your home’s functions can make life a lot easier.
When Willi and JoAnne Lauterbach moved to a four-level townhome in Leesburg, VA, Willi knew he didn’t want to go up and down stairs all day turning the lights on and off or answering the door bell.
“It was really to make my life easy,” says Willi, a principal of Global Development Partners and shareholder of Carrots Inc. So rather than going down two flights from his home office to see who is at the door, he can pull up the visitor on a video monitor from his laptop.
If he’s in his basement-level home theater and gets tired, he can push a button on the remote and have the movie channeled to his bedroom, where he can keep watching up there.
If he goes upstairs and forgets to turn off the lights, no matter. He can push a touch screen in his bedroom and the downstairs lights will switch off. If he forgets to close the garage door, the system will automatically close it at midnight. In the morning when he wants to walk his dogs, he pushes the “dogs” setting on the touch screen, and only the lights on his path downstairs and out the door will be switched on.
As for security, JoAnne is safe when Willi is traveling. If she hears a strange noise, she can push a panic button from the bedroom and the alarm will go off, all the lights will switch on, and the outdoor lights will flash on and off until help arrives. The couple also installed motion-activated security cameras with night vision around the house to catch any strange activity on film.
“I think 10 years from now, this is going to be pretty normal stuff,” Willi says.
Convenience Factor
Kris Kaymanesh, president of Sight & Sound Systems in Chantilly, VA, can’t believe it isn’t already normal. He compares home integration to the auto industry.
“There are certain things in the auto industry we wouldn’t even consider if it wasn’t automatic,” he says, such as the dome light switching on when you open the door or automatic windows.
Kaymanesh, whose own home is fully automated, says the benefits are aesthetic as well as convenient. In large homes with lots of lighting, a security system and an intercom, a bank of switches and panels “is like wall acne,” he says. The system also saves energy. “Light management plus HVAC control equals green home,” he says.
Tom Wells, CEO of Integrated Media Systems in Sterling, VA, adds that an automated home saved his mother’s life. Bette Wells, who lives alone, recently fell and briefly lost consciousness in her Hughesville, MD, home. When she awoke, she pressed a MedAlert button that hangs around her neck, alerting the home’s security system to call rescue personnel.
Wells says, “If it weren’t for that [system], she wouldn’t be with us now.”
