HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1994-05-11, Page 20PAGE 20. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 1994.
Building homes with ‘Smart’ technology
By Bonnie Gropp
Our homes typically become a
part of the family, taking on the
personality and style of the people
who inhabit it.
Imagine, however, a house that
actually responds to the family's
lifestyle, wakes you up, has the cof
fee ready, locks the doors at night
or even creates a romantic mood.
Smart Houses, with a savvy for
security and time and energy sav
ing, are the new wave in living. In
the latter part of 1992 Royal Homes
of Wingham made "smart housing"
more affordable by incorporating
the concept into a modular home,
now on site at the company's
Vaughn, Ont. sales centre. Inside
and out the two-storey New Eng
land style house, a new model
called the Southport, looks pretty
much like any other except for its
control centre and some wall-
mounted control panels.
"Smart homes", controlled by an
automated system, can control all
electrical appliances, lighting, heat
ing, air conditioning and security
from the small central control
panel. This is what sets them apart.
Royal's 3,200 square foot Smart
House begins its days before you,
turning up the heat, warming up the
shower and tuning in the radio or
television. Rooms not frequently
used can be kept at lower tempera
tures than the rest of the home,
while motorized blinds can be pro
grammed to open and close at spe
cific time. Sensors will tum lights
off and on when a room is empty or
occupied.
Appliances can be set to run
only at the most cost efficient time.
Videotapes running in one room
can be viewed in any room of the
house and your bathtub can be
filled if you phone ahead from your
car.
The security system is another
aspect of the home really catching
the attention of visitors. Rather than
monitor a home with a system
which responds once the home has
been broken into, underground sen
sors let you know when someone is
approaching the house. The South
port was programmed to react in a
WORLD CLASS PRODUCTS FROM
when someonecertain way
approaches the house and the
secured zone is breached. A pre
recorded verbal warning is issued,
the porch lights flash, the outside
flood lights tum on and the police
are called if the secured zone
remains breached.
As well, a tiny high-tech camera
lets you see who is at the front door
on any television in the home.
In "smart homes", a house mode
system allows the programming of
many events with a single touch.
The romantic mode, for example,
will dim the lights, ignite the gas
fireplace and close the draperies.
To go on vacation set the unoc
cupied mode which will automati
cally tum down the water heater,
shut off the lights and activate the
full security system.
The modes, which can also be
activated by using a touch-tone
phone are programmed differently
in each Smart House.
The concept of Smart Houses
began almost a decade ago through
the National Association of Home
Builders. As part of the project a
group of manufacturers, including
Sears, Black and Decker, AT & T,
Texas Instruments and Westing
house Electric, agreed to develop
and manufacture components of the
Smart House system.
The first Canadian Smart House
was in Calgary.
Royal Homes, which now offers basic controller to tum appliances
Smart House technology as an
option in its homes, has constructed
the world's first modular Smart
House. The Southport was con
structed in four sections at the
Wingham plant before being trans
ported to Vaughan for assembling.
The indoor construction method
employed by Royal, one of only a
few in Canada with an indoor
workshop, enables the company to
install the Smart House system in
about 25 percent of the time it takes
to install the system in a traditional
built home.
The cost of installing a system
similar to the one in the Southport
is approximately $20,000, though
less elaborate ones can be chosen.
A recent magazine article written
by Jim Adair said that while fewer
than three percent of North Ameri
can houses have home automation
products, it's predicted that by the
year 2000, 12 percent of the US
homes will have, at the least, a
off, and lights off or on from differ
ent locations in the home.
Industry analyst Tricia Park of
Parks Associates of Dallas says
Canadians could catch on to home
automation even faster.
By the year 2000 it is anticipated
that the home automation industry
in North American will sell about
$6 billion worth of equipment each
year.
By conserving energy, and mak
ing life easier, safer and more fun,
houses with a brain are the emerg
ing technology.
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