This technology has been available from the home
automation industry for over ten years now.
There are several, several manufacturers of whole
house controllers and control systems with compatible thermostats
available. These stats come in several different configurations and have
the capability to sense both internal and external temperature levels.
They also come with automatic damping capability that allows very precise zone
cooling and heating for small and large homes. The average price per
square foot for a smart comprehensive control system hovers around $2.00 per
square foot. The energy savings capability of these systems is phenomenal
and they quite literally can pay for themselves in a few years as opposed to
decades for renewable energy products and systems. The most common
application of home automation is automatic lighting control but the technology
can now be successfully applied to any electrical system where automatic, timed
event or energy management is required. It's also a lot of fun to play
with if you are an enthusiast. I cannot recommend it strongly
enough.
One of the tragedies of the home automation
industry is the failure of the environmental community to recognize that this is
a technology that can make significant contributions to energy efficiency and
the efficient day to day operation of a home, office, ranch or farm. I
have always wondered where in the back to the land manual it states that
technology is not allowed.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2002 11:20
AM
Subject: RE: [GBlist] Setback
Thermostats, basic question
Jim:
<Actually what I
am hoping to come across someday is a piece of software that will take the
input from external temperature sensors and coordinate the building's systems
to avoid over cooling/heating while still maintaining the maximum amount of
set-back - of course that is not prohibitively
expensive.>
