Home Automation

For me, being involved with Home Automation is a glimpse into the future, where our buildings become more intelligent, energy efficient and make us more energy use aware as the energy prices increase.

Home Automation can be a very interesting, fun hobby as well as an energy saver. If you have some technical skills, have understanding of electrical wiring, you should give it a try. The rest of you, well give the guys who do automation for living a call for a consultation. It may save you some money in the long run. How much exactly depends on many factors such as the system itself, extent of automation,  amount of energy you will save using the system, etc.. It is not possible to generalize the ROI on such system. Automation is a system and implementation specific issue.

There are many automation systems out there, but in this write-up we will take a look at INSTEON Home Automation available for purchase from Smarthome.

INSTEON is based on home area networking (HAN) using radio frequency waves and power line technology utilizing existing wiring lines in your home. In my experience the system is very reliable and can be bullet-proofed by additional programming that can report events such as low battery in motion sensor or send you an E-mail when your home is unattended and there is some activity detected that you want to keep an eye on. Many other features are possible.

What can you do with Home Automation in the most simplistic terms?

• Control lights (ON/OFF, dimming) or have them turn ON / OFF at some predetermined logic
• Use of motions sensors to enable lighting when a human presence is detected
• Control your indoor and outdoor Christmas lights automatically based on calculated sundown time and some time cycle.
• Control other loads – appliances, motors, etc. A pool pump for example is pretty energy intensive device. Reduce the run time by setting up a timer or run fully when solar power is available.
• Visualize what loads are ON / OFF as the switch buttons light up
• Monitor / control your devices via computer or a smart phone
• Monitor / control status of your garage or other doors
• Monitor your freezer temperature or basement water levels (hopefully not!) and send automatic notifications
• Interface with other systems like alarms, energy  monitoring systems, HVAC controls (thermostat), weather information systems such as WeatherBug, etc.
• Integrate and control your home theatre devices, lighting scenes, motorized window shades, etc.
• Many other features – Visit Smarthome learning centre to see what the system is about and what it can do for you.

About my Home Automation system:

The automation system is interfaced with my Local Area Network and my energy monitoring system. I’m able to monitor and control the devices, programs and scenes using our home computers, my Android phone and if I wanted to, I could control the system over the Internet. Presently, I have chosen not to do so for the security reasons.

The heart of my system is ISY-99i controller from Universal Devices that allows me to manage and control all 15 Insteon capable devices I own, programmed with custom behaviours.

I have several motion sensors that are used along with other switches, outlets and in some case logic related to sunrise and sundown. For example, I have a motion sensor that is linked with a multi button keypad and controls the front porch light. The porch light only comes on after dark and turns of 3 minutes later if no motion is detected. Enough time to take care of the business at the door. The button lights up anytime the light is on outside. I have this same button programmed to overwrite the motion sensor that will leave the porch light on for an hour should I want to do any work there at night. A button right next to is dedicated to disabling the motion detector program should I decide I want to sit outside in a total darkness. If I press the button during the day to turn the porch light ON, another program will turn it off 3 seconds later. Why waste energy if there is a light outside...

One other feature of my porch light control is the fact that the signal is available within the automation system for other security related features. For example I can define a scene that will dim or flash the upstairs lights if my music is playing too loud and someone is at the door. At night the interior house lights on the first floor can be programmed to come ON if someone is at the door and so ON.

The multi button keypad switches inform you which scenes or loads are ON or Off by controlling LEDs in each individual button. Creating virtual three or more way circuits is matter of minutes. Your imagination is your limit.

Being efficiency conscious (I do an energy balance from time to time professionally) I just had to solve one of my pet-peeves: vampire loads. Vampire or phantom loads are created by appliances in standby mode such as cable boxes, TVs, computers, etc. that are waiting on a signal from a remote control.  For more info on phantom loads look up Wiki. Most of the cable boxes are terrible offenders in this category since these are using energy to decode information even when your TV is OFF. Just put your hand over top of the box. Hot? This means the device is converting electrical energy to heat. Heater is not it’s intended use. It just means that it is not very efficient, slowly pulling money out of your packet.

The vampire loads add up very quickly. On average 5-10% of household energy use is attributed to these vampire loads. On a national scale, the cost of this wasted energy add up to a couple of billion dollars annually.

So here is my Vampire load reduction solution #1:   

At night when we hit the sac, I kill all of the vampire loads controlled by the Insteon network with press of a single button. Whenever these are needed, you can enable the loads using Insteon capable switches throughout the house.

Vampire load solution #2:  

The main entry door SwitchLinc keypad has “Away” button that turns off all non essential Insteon loads off when we leave our home. Upon returning home, press the “Away” button again and loads are enabled again.

To gain understanding of the usage, I monitor our household energy use with help of the energy monitoring system from Brultech. This system is also interfaced with my Insteon Home Automation system, allowing me to create events based on energy utilization, such as particular channels or power use levels. My next project is to write a bit of code and start logging the energy usage in a database on micro-server running Linux.

The reason for this project is to have the data and a graphical representation of your total usage as well as usage of multiple individual and combined circuits in one of the most traveled spaces in the house – the kitchen. I envision an Android tablet for this display function displaying what is going on energy and cost wise in the real time and also graphing history and trends. Other means of accessing the database, monitoring and control will of course be possible via home computer, a gaming console, basically all devices with access to your local area network and web browser.

The reason for displaying usage, current energy prices, how much money you are burning up in energy, etc. is really quite simple: What you can’t see, you can’t manage.

Once you understand where you are using power, how much and when you will be able to modify your habits, put energy conservation measures into a place and in the long term, save some dollars. With the implementation of smart meters and Time of Use energy billing, the change in energy usage behaviour becomes even more so important. Some folks will get a rude awakening in a form of high electricity bills that will hopefully force them to start asking questions as to why, become more informed on the subject and take an action. This signifies what I hope for is a start of an energy consciousness trend in the North America.

In addition to that statement, I would also like to offer a simple and free advice: If you don’t need it, turn it OFF!

My Home Automation exploits can be viewed as just a hobby, but I like to think of myself as becoming a trend setter. How about you? What do you think?

I most certainly like to spend my money on more fun things, not the energy bills.

The energy prices are still relatively low, keeping the average person uninterested in investing into such systems and more energy efficient buildings and appliances in general.

What gets me is that we constantly talk about reducing our impact on the environment, that we should be thinking about preserving precious fossil fuels for better use down the road for the future generations, but mostly take little or no action.

With the changing supply / demand situation the energy prices have no other place to go, only upwards. At some point in not so distant future, we will start scrambling to get a better grasp on our energy use and operational cost reduction in our buildings and other infrastructure.

Automation is certainly one way of doing it.

Solar PV space in Ottawa

The race for capturing a slice of residential and commercial PV rooftop business is definitely heating up.
Solar PV OEMs and major players in renewables are spreading their networks and establishing new offices throughout Ontario, Ottawa not being an exception. New companies in the PV space are popping up like mushrooms after the rain.

In the recent days I have attended two shows to get a taste of the competitive landscape and talk to some of the folks on both ends of the spectrum. One show was the Go Green Ottawa, the second was the Spring Home show. Both were hosted at the Lansdowne Park. What I saw was an emergence of new, somewhat immature industry, where people are feeling their way through the darkness, not articulating the value proposition correctly, basically learning on the job. I haven’t seen this much energy in a long time, which is both exciting and somewhat disconcerting at the same time.

First, I applaud Ontario government for adopting the lessons learned internationally and implementing one of the most generous FIT (Feed-in Tariff) programs going in global PV field. In my mind it is no brainer to learn from something that works in other countries that implemented it, but for the Canadian government to take such a decisive action in times of crisis. For change, it shows a refreshing sign of leadership.

I’m not going to get into details of FIT and micro-FIT programs, you can find enough data about the programs on OPA web site http://fit.powerauthority.on.ca/

Over the next several months, I believe you will see materialization of a number of trends. Some will generate exciting success stories, some will have more negative tone. The up and downs are what makes watching this relatively new industry so fascinating.

On one side you will see new people getting involved alongside the established firms in harnessing the power of sun. It is the right thing to do in terms of sustainability as the sun is the only resource that drives all other sources of energy and life on our blue planet. It is the right thing to do and now can be economically very attractive. You will see more financial institutions jumping on the bandwagon and making pacts with installers which is a great news for the consumers as the finances are need to make projects happen. Capital costs of the projects is where I see a weakness in the current offering. The OEMs and installers are not articulating the value proposition correctly to the clients. They are pushing technology rather than sustainable, economic solution that is guaranteed for 20 years by government of Ontario. This type of agreement is hard to argue with if you are in finance, unfortunately it is a bit of a bottle neck at this time as it is a brand new trend to follow for financiers. It will get sorted out over time and more strategic relationships will get formed between OEMs, installers and finance.

The excitement needs to be balanced with responsibility to deliver a quality product. This may be a problem as I see people applying at high rate, but there is only a handful of qualified professionals to actually manage the projects, design and do execute the job.

Not too long ago there was only a handful of firms in the Ottawa’s PV space based more on the belief of doing the right thing rather than very sound economic models. I’m not knocking them down, quite the contrary. It takes guts to start a business you know is ahead of adaptation curve as your target market is very small. I hope all these folks that started early and have so much vested in the business will be successful, able to leverage their experience in the field.

You have heard many times saying: “the devil is in the details”. This is especially true for the PV projects as there is a great number of consideration, variables and distinct lack of experience I already mentioned.

You are crazy if you don’t do a correct assessment as the first thing. You need to consider your roof orientation, pitch, elevation, shading and factor in local insolation to start with. What is even more important is assessment of structurally sound your roof is and correctly estimate the time left before the roof needs to undergo a maintenance. Last thing you want is for the roof to collapse or get ripped apart by weight of the system, accumulated snow weight or wind load where your panels act as sails, thus stressing your roof structure. You also want to avoid removing your panels and fastening system to redo your shingle or membrane roofing systems.
I heard the first horror stories about installers using incorrect fastening systems. This goes back to lack of experience and presently practiced absence of adequate quality in construction. This paradigm needs to change immediately in Solar PV space. The efficiency of the system is fairly low begin with, so your system is going to be only as good as your design decisions, quality of the installation and finally the choice of equipment used.

Make sure the systems are designed and installed only by a qualified personnel. OPA lists the questions to ask your installers in the FIT program overview on their web site. Get informed first, cover your base, before signing up.

I can’t stress enough the importance of proper design and factoring quality into your project. Every detail counts and can’t be overlooked to get the expected performance as stated by installer and OEM. There will be a plenty of stories resulting in wasted money by systems improperly installed or installed in suboptimal conditions.
Technology is #3 on my list of priority after design and expert, quality project execution. The selection of technology is as important as design and installation, but all three pieces need to be present to maximize the program returns, meet the operator’s expectations and enjoy relative maintenance free operation of the PV system.

There are only a few vendors that current qualify for the Ontario content FIT requirement. These qualified OEM/vendors are the starting point. Then you examine total sum of efficiencies in all components – panels, inverters as stated by OEMs, length of conductors, connections leading to transmission loss before you even hit the renewable energy meter.

There is whole lot of technology out there, each claimed to be superior. Again, this is not a simple matter to settle.
What I would like to stress to you is that having a reputable and trustworthy installer that is not new in the space is going to be the key. Over time, most installers will gain experience, just don’t let it be on your account.

Do your homework, get references, talk to the clients that have the systems in operation for at least couple of years. Substandard PV system performance is one thing, leaking or damaged roof is entirely different story, but both will cost you big time...

So what panels to choose? Ontario qualified manufacturers currently specialize in mono and polycrystalline panels. I’m not aware of any thin film panels being offered just yet that qualify for the program. Thin film panels are cheaper to make and better at harvesting diffused or indirect light and may be a better choice for some installations where crystalline panel systems would suffer. There are of course some downsides too relating to projected longevity and the fact these have lower conversion efficiency ratings over crystalline products, etc.

Inverter space is a another story undergoing a bit of a revolution. There are many different types of inverters to start with, suitable for different applications dependent on the site and operator requirements. There are string inverters vs. microinverters. Some will allow per panel performance monitoring, eliminate panel mismatching or partial shading phenomena, where others won’t. There are many choices, many decisions.
What I’m trying to say is - if you are not an expert in the PV field, hire an expert!

One that is very familiar with pros and cons of each product, combination of products and can help you to reduce the risk of not achieving the desired performance. The PV contract length with OPA is 20 years, you want to maximize the system performance with minimum losses over the two decades, in order to meet your payback and revenue forecasts.
PV arena will be a very interesting place to watch. You consumer, developer, if you have south facing roof space without obstructions, get in, check out the FIT programs, see if these are right for you.

If yes, the sooner you do it, the better. OPA along with local hydro companies will eventually have to start rejecting applications as installations will lead to power grid destabilization. Some of the causes are related to intermittent nature of solar energy, state of transmission and distribution line capacity as well as total cost of the program. Achieving the adaptation goals, some EU countries have already terminated their very successful FIT programs.

The Ontario FIT programs will ultimately lead to inflow of investment, innovation in new, more efficient technology, redistribution of the grid, addressing grid challenges due to its age, creation of new jobs, but will also result just like every new industry in a consolidation and ultimately a survival of the fittest.

Exciting times...

Saving energy in the winter - when taking a bath

If you like to take baths, don’t immediately drain the water after getting out of the tub. Leave the water in the tub until it feels cold to the touch, only then drain it. The energy was already spent heating the water, why sending it down the drain? The heat energy from the water in the tub will gradually transfer and heat the air. It will also provide some moisture to winter’s dry air.

Overall, this means burning less fuel and few more pennies in your packet. The saving effect can be cumulative. If everyone used this simple, cost free tip, we would collectively save money, save a lot of fuels from being burned and displace significant amounts of CO2.


Do more with less, help yourself, help the planet... It can be this easy.