Lutron Plans Whole-House Energy Control
 Call C.I.S. To Discuss The New Lutron RadioRa2 Product Line And How It Can Benefit Your Lifestyle Energy-saving daylight sensing added to Lutron lighting and shading control.
Lutron Electronics has announced product rollouts that will take place this year and next, designed to provide total home control and energy management, mainly via its new upscale HomeWorks QS wired and wireless lighting systems and its mid-market RadioRA 2 wireless lighting solutions.
“We’re really going to focus on control of energy in the home,” says David Weinstein, Lutron’s vice president of sales.
For the first time, HomeWorks QS and RadioRA 2 will feature daylight sensing to automatically adjust lights and shades, based on the amount of sunlight penetrating a space. Occupancy sensing, which Lutron says can save 20 percent or more in lighting energy by automatically shutting off lights when no one is in a room, is also a part of the systems.
Lutron has used daylight sensing in its commercial products, but for the first time is introducing the technology into its residential lines.
Most automated shading in homes is accomplished by programming astronomical clocks to descend shades at certain times of the day to help keep a room cool—or do the opposite to help heat a room.
Lutron’s daylight sensing solution could also enable daylight harvesting—using the natural light to illuminate a room and reduce the need for electrical lighting.
Up to now, electronics installers had to use third-party sensors, and the programming required could be complex, explains Lutron product development manager Richard Black. Installers often used contact closures that descended or raised the shades at certain daylight thresholds. That was a simple solution to a complex issue, so when clouds passed, for example, motorized shades could go up and down too frequently. “There are a lot of settings you have to have to make that work effectively. Now that we have the logic, we can make it work better.”
Lutron also announced Venetian blinds with intelligent tilt alignment, as part of its Avant line. Lutron says the product can tilt the blinds seamlessly, and the company will look to integrate automated tilting via daylight sensing as well. The system can also adjust height of shading as the angle of the sun changes.
Chief among Lutron’s other product announcements are:
-A plug-in appliance module coming in December 2010 to monitor and control appliances are other energy loads in a home.
-Dynamic keypad coming in April 2011 that controls lights, shades, HVAC, audio/video and energy from one spot.
-Venetian wood blinds with intelligent tilt alignment.
-seeTemp intelligent thermostats coming in April 2011.
-An Eco Button that can dim lights and set back the thermostat plus or minus 2 degrees to save energy.
-Integration with iPad and iPhone.
-A phase-adaptive dimmer that automatically senses the load—whether its CFL or LED, for instance—and adjusts the dimming for that.
-A Green Button coming in April 2011 that dim lights, lower shades, sets back temperature, and turns off unneeded appliances via plug-in appliance modules.
-An iPad app in Dec. 2010.
“By adding cooling and heating, in addition to lighting and shading and connected loads, we can control 60 percent of the energy use in the home,” says Weinstein.
by Steven Castle
http://www.electronichouse.com/article/lutron_plans_whole-house_energy_control/
Custom Installation Services, LLC – ”We may be a few dollars more than the competition, but we are a million times better”.
Posted in Automation, HAI, i-Pad, IP Cameras, lighting control, Lutron Radio Ra II, Structured Wiring, technology
|
Tagged audio advice, audio and video in nc, av contractor charlotte, av contractors nc, broken tv disposal charlotte nc, central vac dealers in charlotte nc, central vac installers, charlotte audio advice, charlotte hd installers, Charlotte Home Theater, cis nc, cis-nc.com, custom home builders in charlotte nc, custom home entertainment cabinetry charlotte nc, custom house audio charlotte, custom house audio video charlotte nc, Custom Installation Services, eatre room dealers in charlotten.c., geek squad in charlotte nc, hd installers, home automation companies in charlotte, home theater furniture, home theater wiring, innovative systems, Lighting control dealers in lake norman, nanny cams, speakercraft dealers charlotte nc, speakercraft dealers in charlotte nc, surround sound, survallence cameras, Tantra speakers, whole house audio, zobo
|
TV Recycling: What to Do?
 When you purchase a new HDTV from C.I.S., we will take your old TV for recycling! Big box retailers don’t help much, but there are plenty of other options.
Still have an old CRT TV you want to get rid of and replace with a shiny new HDTV?
You should definitely look to recycle your old TV, but where? A report on HDguru.com lists the lack of in-store recycling options by big-box retailers such as Walmart, Sam’s Club, Costco, and the like. Walmart has partnered with Samsung for recycling Samsung products, and Sam’s Club has a trade-in program through EcoNew.
According to HD Guru, Best Buy charges $10 fee for each in-store TV (or monitor) dropped off at a Best Buy location and will offset that by giving you a $10 Best Buy gift card in exchange. (Does anything actually cost $10 or under at Best Buy?)
Yes, there is a dearth of recycling options at the big stores. But there are plenty of other recycling options, which we have detailed in previous posts:
Check the Electronics Takeback Coalition’s Guide to Recycling Your Electronics. There’s also a chart comparing what can be recycled in each state, and a summary of state programs and pending legislation.
Find listings of local e-waste collection sites at E-Cycling Central and manufacturer programs and other options at the Consumer Electronics Association’s Digital Tips site.
Sony has a free take-back program in conjunction with Waste Management, at locations throughout the country. MRM (Electronic Manufacturers Recycling Management Company), a joint venture between Panasonic, Toshiba and Sharp, offers 640 locations for recycling. Last year Mitsubishi joined the program, and MRM says most of its drop-off sites accept all types and brands of consumer electronics for recycling.
Look for hazardous waste collection days in your community. Many cities and towns sponsor these for their residents to dispose of electronics, appliances and household chemicals, through a recycling company.
You can also ensure a TV or other device will be recycled or reused when you purchase it, through TechForward’s buy-back program that locks in a value for your product upon its purchase and depending on how long you keep it. The product is then resold, reused or recycled responsibly.
Also, make sure any recycler or e-cycler recycles responsibly. Many electronics recyclers ship the products to developing countries, where they are often disassembled dangerously, exposing children and low-wage workers to toxic metals such as chromium, cadmium and mercury. In some of the world’s poorest communities, the plastics in electronics are burned in pits, causing medical and environmental hazards.
Some e-cyclers have take a pledge from the Basel Action Network (BAN) to recycle responsibly and not ship old electronics overseas. BAN now has an e-Stewards certification program for electronics recyclers to ensure that discarded electronics containing toxic materials aren’t being shipped overseas and disassembled. You can see a map of responsible recyclers meeting the requirements.
by Steven Castle
http://www.electronichouse.com/article/tv_recycling_what_to_do/
Custom Installation Services, LLC – ”We may be a few dollars more than the competition, but we are a million times better”.
Posted in 3D TV, Flat Panel TV's, Home Theater, LED, recycling, technology
|
Tagged 3d theater in charlotte, audio advice, charlotte audio advice, charlotte custom home builders, charlotte hd installers, Charlotte Home Theater, Charlotte onkyo dealers, commercial a/v charlotte, custom home builders in lake norman, geek squad in charlotte nc, HD installers in Charlotte nc, home audio consultation and design, home automation companies in charlotte, home theater wiring, innovative systems, lutron dealers in lake norman, lutron radio ra2, multiroom audio, playback av, s3av charlotte, speakercraft dealers in charlotte nc, surround sound, tweeter charlotte, Universal Remote programmers in charlotte nc, whole house audio
|
Do iPads Belong in a Wall?
 Call Custom Installation Services To Discuss How You Can Integrate Your i-Pad Into Your Home It may be irrational, but even the wealthiest homeowner may find it wasteful and just plain wrong to mount an iPad semi-permanently behind a wall.
Where does an iPad belong? On a countertop? Coffee table? The couch? Your lap?
Or should it be Velcroed to your dashboard, mounted on the wall like a monitor, moved from wall station to wall station via plastic tabs or snap-on discs, or mounted permanently behind a bezel?
Custom electronics pros are debating this very topic on dealer-oriented forums, and the opinions are mixed.
In our world, the iPad is so cheap compared with most traditional automation touchpanels that you may as well buy several of them and lock them into the walls like those old-fangled touchpanels we used to sell for $3,000 apiece.
But our world has changed!
Homeowners may no longer say, “I want a home control system, and I would like to be able to use it with an iPhone and iPad.”
Instead, they say, “I love my iPad. Design a home control system around it.”
By that time, they’re already used to toting their iPads around the house, from room to room as needed. Maybe they have a few scattered around the place. Mobility is one thing they really love about this lightweight, skinny screen.
So won’t they balk at the idea of forever locking an iPad into the wall? It may be irrational, but even the wealthiest homeowner may find the idea wasteful and just plain wrong.
Bethesda Systems in Maryland has a nice blog post beseeching clients to do the unthinkable: tether their iPads.
iPad was designed to be held in your lap. And it’s proven itself to be a truly revolutionary mobile device. And now we’d like you to consider…letting go. Literally.
He shows some nice examples of iPads embedded in clever cases such as an old Mac classic, and in convenient places like a kitchen cabinet.
At the end of the blog, Bethesda shows an iPad with shattered glass, warning:
Don’t let this happen to you! With your in-wall mounted iPad it’s always safe, it’s always charged, and it’s always right where you left it.
Clearly, the right solution for homeowners who can afford it is to have multiple iPads mounted in convenient places around the house.
What do you think?
by Julie Jacobson
http://www.electronichouse.com/article/do_ipads_belong_in_a_wall/apple
Custom Installation Services, LLC – ”We may be a few dollars more than the competition, but we are a million times better”.
Posted in Audio Systems, Automation, i-Pad, Multi Room A/V, Music and Movies, News, technology
|
Tagged 3d theater in charlotte, audio advice, Best Buy, central vac dealers in charlotte nc, charlotte audio advice, charlotte custom home builders, charlotte hd installers, Charlotte Home Theater, charlotte nc architects, Charlotte onkyo dealers, custom home builders in lake norman, geek squad in charlotte nc, HD installers in Charlotte nc, home automation companies in charlotte, Home theater installers Lake Norman, i-pad integration, i-pad integration charlotte, innovative systems, speakercraft dealers in charlotte nc, Universal Remote programmers in charlotte nc, zobo
|
|
|
|
