For consumers, the market for home energy management technology and products has, all at once, become highly frenzied yet tremendously exciting. From sleek, standalone ‘smart thermostats’ to solutions tightly integrated with the security system to new broadband-based home energy offerings from large cable and telco providers, consumers must not only decide which tool fits with their particular lifestyle, but which underlying platform offers the most stability and value.
As energy costs continue to rise, consumers are becoming more and more interested in ways to reduce and monitor their energy consumption. This trend presents an enormous opportunity for technology professionals who are already working in the home.
Many electronic system contractors (ESC) often know green as motorized shades, LED lighting and home energy management and monitoring. Courtney Baker sees a bigger green. “These are major areas that the dealer/installer community can affect; but being green is a lot more than just saving energy. It is also about indoor air quality, water efficiency indoor and outdoor, material selection and generally being aware of how [a client’s] home ‘should’ work.”
Research from Indianapolis-based Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA), which SDM supported through collaboration on the survey base and by publication of the results, takes a closer look at how business models compare in these two industries.
Lenbrook America, the U.S. distributor for specialty audio/video (A/V) brands NAD and PSB, announced that the Home Technology Specialists of America (HTSA) invited the company to join as a vendor member.
Niles®, Carlsbad, Calif., is staking out new ground with its new audiophile-grade weatherproof speaker and subwoofer designed to bring indoor-quality sound to the outdoors.
Strengthening its nearly two-decade relationship with Lutron, ELAN® Home Systems, Carlsbad, Calif., announced that its ELAN g! Entertainment and Control System software version 5.4 supports the new international version of Lutron’s HomeWorks QS total home control system.
Crestron, Rockleigh, N.J., commemorated the opening of its new Experience Center in Cypress, Calif., with more than 400 guests that included Crestron dealers, consultants, architects, lighting designers and specifiers, electrical contractors, vendor partners, media, and local government officials.
The Z-Wave Alliance, Milpitas, Calif., an open consortium of leading global companies dedicated to promoting Z-Wave as the standard in wireless home control, with close to 600 interoperable products world-wide, announced the addition of Verizon as its newest Alliance member.
Technologies may be converging, but when it comes to the revenue models of security dealers and electronic systems contractors, the differences are vast.
A confluence of both opportunities (energy management, mobile technologies) and challenges (depressed home construction, reduced consumer spending) keeps pushing installation companies into market segments in which they’ve never gone before. One result is that more security dealers are seeking sales of residential systems that go beyond traditional security, especially those targeted for the existing home market.
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