Is Your Home Wiring System Setup To Support Smart Devices?




Nowadays people are always on the lookout for new technologies to be installed in their homes. In terms of technology, today’s residential homes are very well equipped as compared to the houses of old times.

Slowly but steadily, advanced technologies are creeping into modern homes. We can literally say that today’s homes are not just homes, they are smart homes. In smart homes, we can control our television, telephone, internet, home theater etc from anywhere in our house.

Smart home is a similar term as home structured wiring. What it actually does is that, it will distribute your electronic devices and media equipments like television, internet, telephone etc. throughout your home. Literally enabling you to operate them from anywhere in your home.

Home structure wiring systems basically combines latest technology with your home’s building structure. Home wiring system does much more than just untangling your wiring system, it helps you to create a well connected, well equipped, technologically advanced smart home with centralized control. If you are thinking of changing your home into a smart home, you must know something about structured wiring.

In a home structured wiring system, with centralized control and distribution equipments, you can connect your iPod, cell phone or home theater surround sound throughout your home. Won’t that be great to have some light music in your kitchen, while you are cooking? If you are having a surveillance system or any kind of security system, you will have a hell of a lot of wires running around your home.

All these security devices might be wired together and can cause some real mess. It is not an easy job to untangle those wires. Hanging wires, knots and tangles can make your home look ugly.

Tangled wires can cause short circuits, fire and other safety hazards. It can be even more dangerous if you have kids at home. Structured wiring system is your best option for a smart home solution. It is the best way to organize all your cables and equipment wires.

With structural wiring systems, you can hide all your cables inside the wall structure and inside structured wiring panels. Your data distribution, TV distribution, security system cables and telephone wires can be incorporated into these wiring panels. This will let you operate your equipments by sitting in any room of your smart home.

Moreover you can easily upgrade your technology, as residential structured wiring products fit easily into structured wiring panels. This makes your smart home up to date with the advancement in technology. Structured cable system is your one time solution for all your smart home needs.

Before turning to structured wiring system, it will always be better to have a clear cut idea about the smart home idea in your mind and also have some knowledge about the features you require. Knowing your requirements will go a long way in making the smart home of your dream to a reality. A residential wiring technician or a custom home installation professional can help you in customizing your home to your technological needs.

Home Active & Passive Solar Heating System – What Are They?


Do you want to go green with your home, how about using a solar heating system? If that sound somewhat interesting, you have a lot of options to consider. One such option is to choosing either an active or passive solar heating system.

Now what is active solar heating system? This system is that which involves storing and harnessing solar energy in the form of heat. Fans and other similar mechanical devices are used to dispense heat that is harness and collected from the sun.

Silicon is the most common type of solar heat collectors for constructing Photovoltaic (PV) cells. The cells are typically contains or placed on solar panels which are located in the roof of the house.

Now, what are the types of solar collectors? There are two primary types. The main difference between these two types lies in the material that captures and helps to move the heat that is located in the solar collector.

The material usually consists of a gas or a liquid. For instance, an air-based system contains transpired air collectors or an air room heater. But on liquid-based systems usually contains water or an antifreeze element to capture and move heat around your house.

Generally the goal of such a system is to heat up to three-fourths of a home’s interior. When there is more than normal solar energy than a house needs is produced, the homeowner could then sell excessive power back to his or her local utility company.

It is always advisable to heat the air and water in your home so that the solar heating system can function throughout the entire year. This system is a low-technology method of capturing and harnessing solar energy.

It functions by the method of directly capturing the sun’s heat, and then retaining it within the house for the function of heating. This is mainly achieved through methods such as quality insulation and windows. This kind of system can tremendously lower your current heating cost or even replace your home’s current system.

How about passive solar heating? What are its components? One of the primary components of passive systems is windows.

The goal of the component is to maximize the amount of sunlight and heat that one can be collected during the daytime. Generally the common windows consist of a special kind of glass that absorbs as much heat as possible and then keeps it inside the house for a maximum amount of time.

Besides windows, there is another common component of passive solar heating systems which are trombes, a special type of wall. There is a pane of glass in front of the wall. This method is used to collect heat provided the space between the glass and wall.

Another common method is to paint the concrete walls black so they will absorb heat more rapidly and instantly. What are the benefits? This is generally an ideal option when you are looking for a solar heating system for a new home.

The reason is that passive solar heating systems are restricted due to many factors such as the location of the windows in the home, the location of the building itself, the amount of insulation in the building, and so on. These types of problems can be much challenging to make a change within existing homes, especially the location of the home.

Learning the basics of active and passive solar heating systems, it is now possible to determine which the best is for you and your family.

Energy Efficiency – Find The Potential In Your Home To Save Energy


It is an old saying that energy saved is energy produced; this is also true that no two homes are exactly the same and finding ways to save power is a golden rule. One must find ways and areas where energy efficiency can be implemented and electric waste can totally be eliminated.

Every home can use efficiency to stop power waste, irrespective of the age of the building. The biggest hurdle is that we cannot get trained as energy auditors, we cannot run across our homes with a blower door or as a smoke puffer, the potential area where electricity can be saved is found in the areas where something is amiss.

An energy auditor finds those gaps and components which can be used to make it energy efficient. It has been seen that almost all the homes across the country use double the energy than required to be make their lives comfortable. The power which is used unnecessarily costs around 45 billion per year.

Are your power bills increasing enormously? You too have become part of 45 billion. We may be part of this energy waste though unknowingly, the improper insulation, air sealing and lack of efficient cooling and heating system contribute to this waste which costs us billions.

Energy efficiency devices.

There is a way where we can contribute to power saving and lower our power bill, we can look for ways and means for the potential savings in our homes and let the neighbors continue paying for the waste. The energy auditor to do it yourself with a strong desire to save money on the power bills has a better opportunity of finding energy savings than the average person with a golden dredge.

If you cannot do it, it would be better to contact your energy supplier and find ways and means to audit free your home energy needs. Your power provider will bring smile on your face by giving solutions to save the power.

You may use Retrofit to save the power; it is change or addition to a home or homes heating system. This will help in the conservation of the power. Retrofits can be the solution for the homeowner who does not like energy waste and high power bills. Retrofits can be made part of weatherization plan across the country and can become great source of saving energy.

It has been seen that weatherization plans can save on power bills, 23 % energy on heating and 26 % on cooling. All people irrespective of their income level can get benefitted by using this program and assist in conservation of energy by contacting their power providers.

The residential weatherization program uses four strategies for the energy conservation. Retrofits can be used in building shell; studies suggest that electricity and gas is wasted most through holes in the building shell.

The energy auditors are of the opinion that air leakage is different in different homes. If the leaks are plugged properly, lot of energy can be saved. Window coatings with improvised glass have made retrofits quite energy efficient.