Built to Last
LaLiberte brought together a team of tech experts (Monarch AV and Crestron, to be precise), designers, architects, and builder Brad Leavitt, president of A Finer Touch Construction, LLC. The materials alone are a marvel: insulated concrete foam (ICF) blocks, insulated flooring, structured insulated panels (SIPs) for the roof, triple-paned glass, and more. The building’s orientation on the lot and its extended overhangs assist the HVAC system, and even the paint is eco-friendly.
And the entire building features the latest in smart home technology — including Crestron solutions that help reduce energy consumption through automation and promote environmental sustainability (more on that in a moment). Some of the tech in a residence of this kind is exactly what you’d expect to find in an “eco-friendly” building — for example, a discreet bank of roof-mounted solar panels that can power the home, send energy to a battery storage system, or return power to the grid. But there are things that aren’t quite so visible that can help make a home sustainable. For example:
Careful energy management
There are power management systems that can automate functions and report on consumption, all while protecting equipment failure due to lightning and electrical disturbances, such as surges and outages. “A smart system can use sensors to shut off devices when a room is vacant for a given period,” says Arcenal. “It can also find ‘vampire draws’ — devices that are pulling power even when they’re technically turned off. There are systems that can automate other functions, like charging an electric vehicle — the tech ‘knows’ when rates are lowest during a charging period and can turn the charger on or off accordingly.”
Lighting and shading
“Sensors or timed triggers can also raise and lower shades to handle passive heating or cooling in different parts of a home,” says Arcenal. In addition to assisting the HVAC system, smart shading helps prevent sun bleaching, meaning that floors, furniture, and finishes have a longer life. “Lighting has become more and more energy efficient, too, and automating it can save even more resources,” says Arcenal.
Durable, reliable devices that are well-designed
“If you have a product that lasts, that can be updated with software and firmware instead of needing to be ‘ripped and replaced’ every few years due to obsolescence or poor craftsmanship, that hardware is so, so much less likely to wind up in a landfill,” says Arcenal. Crestron is always striving to find ways to create solutions with fewer “black boxes” and other hardware elements, too. “We were early adopters of PoE (power over ethernet) technologies,” says Arcenal. Imagine if a single cable is sending both audio data and power to a speaker, for example — it’s a solution that’s just cut the needed cabling in half. “It’s easier to install, too,” she adds.