EcoManor Showcases Crestron "Green" Technology

Touchpanel Interface Monitors Energy Consumption and Cost Savings

Atlanta-based Interior Media, a leading provider of residential electronic systems, installed a “green” energy monitoring and management system at EcoManor using Crestron automation and control technology.

EcoManor is the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified residence in the Southeast and the first to utilize both solar and geothermal energy to power its daily energy use. Founded by national eco-activists, Laura and Rutherford Seydel, EcoManor stands as an educational tool for builders, architects, designers, and homeowners and serves to promote green living, conservation, and improved residential building practices. We are thrilled to be a part of this landmark project,“ said David Hardy, CEO of Interior Media. ”This is a great opportunity for Interior Media to demonstrate how our state-of-the-art integrated systems can perform in an environment where energy-efficiency is the primary concern"

“Interior Media really understands our goal and vision for EcoManor and they are creating an integrated system that’s highly effective and very user-friendly,” said Rutherford Seydel. Interior Media installed a system at EcoManor that fully monitors utility usage and manages various systems including: lighting, climate control, security, even water collection. All are monitored via 15-inch touchpanel manufactured by Crestron®.

“Imagine a residence that is hooked up to a heart monitor. Every movement and change is being watched and analyzed, 24/7. That’s literally what we’re doing at EcoManor,” Hardy noted. “It’s the next level of home automation.”

The Crestron® TPMC-15 touchpanel provides easy control of Audio/Video distribution, whole-house lighting, temperature, and security. The EcoManor TPMC-15 shows the owners’ energy usage in real-time and lets them make changes individually or set the house to react automatically. The house can be set to Economy mode, Miser mode, or even Entertainment mode. “It’ll be incredible to see our utility usage on a real-time basis,” Seydel said. “There’s no telling how much energy and money we could save each year if our homes could tell us that.”

The touchpanel is a high contrast display that supports high-resolution graphics and images, dynamic text and animation. Operating on an embedded Window XP platform, it enables homeowners to securely access the Web and popular file formats such as Word and Excel.

The touchpanel is also connected to the Crestron lighting and HVAC systems, which enable complete, multi-zone control of all the lights and thermostats in the home. Automating lighting and thermostats can significantly reduce energy consumption and lower costs by using dimmers, pre-set scenes, occupancy sensors and timers. In addition to the main touchpanel providing remote access to all systems, several Crestron keypads and thermostats are also installed throughout the home for convenient local control.

Interior Media also installed Crestron’s CEN-IDOC , which brings the owners’ iPod® experience to the Crestron touchpanels and throughout the house. The touchpanels have expanded display areas showing multiple sortable fields such as artist name, song title, and CD title on a single screen. The owners can enjoy the whole-house audio experience plus complete iPod functionality. “EcoManor has been a fantastic challenge for Interior Media,” Hardy added. “It isn’t everyday that you get to help design how the house of the future will function. We’re very proud of our work. I think people will be amazed at the result.”

Interior Media is also adding some fun to go along with all the function. They are installing two Philips Plasma TV’s and a Philips LCD TV. Audio comes through Niles High Definition Speakers installed throughout the home.