A publication from the Natio nal Electrical Manufacturers Association
NEMA electroindustry
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April 2015

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If energy is in high demand, the Nest Learning Thermostat can tell your Whirlpool ® Smart Front Load Washer & Dryer to delay the start of a cycle. Because saving energy isn’t just for thermostats.
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April

S eventy-two billion dollars. That is the expected size of global smart home revenues by 2017, according to the Deloitte Research Technology, Media, and Telecommunications team. Berg Insight estimates that as of 2014, there were already nearly 10 million connected homes in North America and Europe.
Driven largely by the explosive growth of smart phones, tablets, and the
David m. Weinstein, Vice president residential Sales, lutron Electronics internet, that number is expected to more than double in the next two years.
Wireless control is typically the best option for delivering simple, affordable, reliable connected-home control whether you are looking for do-it-yourself or do-it-for-me solutions. Look for manufacturers and solutions that offer products that talk to each other across platforms, and offer local controls like dimmers, switches, and thermostats that are easily accessible in the home, as well as remotely from anywhere in the world via smart devices and apps.
What should you consider as you plan your smart home makeover?
For example, when you go to bed at night, you may wonder if you left the kitchen light on. Just pull up the app on your smart phone, and you can make sure the house is also put to bed!
At the top of the list is connected control of heating/air conditioning and lighting. These are systems that improve comfort and convenience, but they can also deliver significant, measurable reductions in energy use. Using technologies that are simple to install and program can ease the transition to a smart home and can improve the rate of adoption for connected controls.
This is not a futuristic scenario; it’s available today. Smart technology is available at every price point, and wireless integration means you have the option to expand your connected home over time. Start with something as simple as controlling one light from your smart device, and see how connected technologies can make your home more comfortable, smarter, and more energy-efficient. ei
S pring cleaning—it’s an annual ritual for most.
We have a few more items to add to that honey-do list, but not to worry. There’s no heavy lifting involved.
Test the batteries in your smoke detectors. Almost two-thirds of home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.
Test the batteries in your carbon monoxide (CO) detectors. Every year, more than
200 people in the
U.S. die from CO poisoning.
Make sure circuit breakers and fuses are labeled correctly.
Make sure light bulbs are the correct wattage for their fixtures.
Ensure your home is protected from electrical surges by using surge protective devices.
These include surge-protected power strips, and protection installed at an outlet or at a fuse box. Learn more at www.nemasurge.org.
Replace burned out light bulbs with energyefficient varieties, such as LEDs.
Consider installing lighting control products such as dimmers, timers, or occupancy sensors. These products allow lights to automatically turn on and off as needed.
Replace your current thermostat with a programmable one. (Some utility companies will install it for you.)
This technology allows you to control your heating and cooling needs more efficiently. ei
NEMA electroindustry
April 2015

patrick Hughes, Director, government relations
M y wife, Amy, and I have been working for the past year to reduce our
115-year-old row house’s annual net energy consumption to zero with the help of dozens of NEMA member products.
We have made our home more energy-efficient by:
• replacing 100 percent of our lights with LEDs;
• using lighting controls to dim and turn off lights when not in use;
• installing a smart thermostat;
• using plug-load controls to reduce wasted energy, while simultaneously protecting our home and ourselves from electric shocks and arc faults;
• and much more (see the April 2014 ei article, “Walking the
Walk: Creating a High-Performance Home with NEMA
Member Products” for a list of installed technologies).
We also installed a solar photovoltaic system to generate electricity to offset the little energy that our house does use.
While we started on target to reach zero net electricity in our first year, a leaky roof forced us to adjust our plans. Initially patched by our solar contractors in the early summer, the leak returned in the fall, dumping gallons of rainwater into our bedroom.
The original tin roof, re-coated and patched numerous times over its 115-year life, was clearly overdue for a more modern, better insulated replacement. While this was a bit of a setback— it required our solar panels to sit dormant in our backyard for about six weeks—Amy and I used it as an opportunity to increase the thermal insulation. We chose a reflective white roof
(thermoplastic polyolefin) that will reduce the need for airconditioning in the summer months.
We also added extra layers of insulation (polyisocyanurate foam board) underneath the roofing membrane to reduce wasted energy from air leaks.
This is the final installment of #ThePatrickProject, which has been a year-long series following Patrick and Amy’s progress toward making their house a zero net energy home. View articles, videos, and podcasts online at: www.nema.org/hpb/thepatrickproject
Never let a good crisis go to waste. Pette, the family dachshund, appreciated a different perspective when solar panels were removed to replace the roof. Photo by Patrick Hughes
Despite missing out on more than a month’s worth of solar generation, we still managed to generate 1,845 kilowatt-hours of electricity from March 2014 through February 2015, enough to offset 80 percent of our electricity over the same time period.
This experience has taught us a few things that might help you make your own home more energy-efficient:
• Don’t try to tackle everything at once.
Focus on improving the energy systems in your home one at a time to avoid getting overloaded and frustrated. Start with the easy things that save the most energy (LED lighting and lighting controls, programmable smart thermostats, plug-load controls) and move on from there to the more difficult and costly energy conservation measures (appliances, windows, insulation).
• Never let a good crisis go to waste.
When faced with the need to replace something in your home, take a moment to research your options and ask contractors about the energy performance of various options.
• Think about the lifecycle cost.
Take into account the lifecycle cost of the light bulb, appliance, or (in our case) roof before making a decision based on the up-front cost alone. Spending a little more today on new windows or a new hot water heater could save you a lot of money and energy in the future.
We’re not done yet; Amy and I have a list of projects that we will take on one at a time. This spring we will replace our front and rear doors with ENERGY STAR ® -certified ones that better insulate our home and provide additional daylight.
Over the coming years we will replace our furnace, airconditioner, hot water heater, and refrigerator with more energy-efficient models. Each of these small upgrades together will bring us closer and closer to our goal of zero net energy. ei
NEMA electroindustry
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April 2015

Jonathan Stewart, manager, government relations
W ith its origin at the crossroads of the “American Garage” and
“Consumer Imagination” concepts, you could be forgiven for not knowing much about the Maker Movement. Over the last 10 years it has steadily gained momentum and is on the cusp of a full-fledged
U.S. subculture.
NEMA Government Relations Manager
Alex Boesenberg embodies the inventiveness, resourcefulness, and safety of the Makers Movement with listed welding equipment and personal protection in his at-home workshop. Photo by Pat Walsh
Borrowing from the likes of hobbyists, woodworkers, and technologists, it is hard to define what exactly constitutes the movement because it continues to evolve and progress. By all accounts, principles of innovation, re-creation, sharing, and learning are to be credited for the movement’s success.
But I would add one more principle that is important for the movement’s future: safety.
The Maker’s toolkit includes a range of equipment, from computers and 3-D printers to welding equipment and buzz saws, but any tool that runs on electricity should be handled with caution. Makers should ensure that the tools they purchase are listed by a nationally recognized testing laboratory, such as
CSA, Intertek, or UL. A product listing means, among other things, that the product has been tested and certified to safety standards for both the product and its components.
The Maker Movement is expanding beyond your neighbor’s garage, looking to convert more consumers into Makers.
How long before corporate America takes notice and begins incorporating aspects of the subculture into the office place?
With so many new venues on the horizon, the Maker Movement must also be a safety movement. ei
Looking for some creative ways to hide electrical cords and other unsightly electrical components in your home?
Kerra Michele of the popular Apt Envy blog offers five ways to help you tackle these nuisances. Find these tips and more at www.nema.org/NEMA-at-Home . ei
NEMA electroindustry
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April 2015

bill Slater, international marketing manager, and brian groenig, Senior product manager, leviton
T he number of connected devices in the home has grown significantly over the last few years. To adequately support this trend, it is important to build residential networks on an organized structured cabling foundation.
Too often, homeowners knowingly accept poor network reliability and quality for the convenience of a wireless system.
While wireless technology has improved, the hunger for bandwidth outpaces it. Modern homes use an average of six connected devices per household, including 4K and Ultra HD
TVs, VOIP, streaming media servers, and game consoles, as well as internet-enabled printers, thermostats, appliances, and more.
No one using the latest consumer technologies should accept poor network quality and low data rates. High-speed, hard-wired structured cabling offers the ideal solution to support today’s demands. Wi-Fi should be designed as an extension of a well-planned home networking array, not the sole connectivity option.
Residential structured cabling combines concepts from demanding commercial cabling applications with multimedia to accommodate audio, video, voice, data, and security systems.
The smartest home networks use wired connectivity for stationary devices like
Blu-ray® players, desktop computers, set-top boxes, and game consoles, and then add a wireless router to provide the strongest Wi-Fi signal to portable devices such as tablets, laptops, and phones.
If installed during new construction, a well-planned structured cabling system benefits the homeowner and increases the value of the home. But even if that opportunity has passed, there is great value in organizing the various systems into a unified design to reduce overall cost, provide maximum functionality, and maintain an aesthetically pleasing result.
To prepare for home network growth, it is important that homeowners organize their connections. A structured wiring panel or enclosure serves as the central hub for a network, and is an excellent option for housing routers, switches, modems, and more in one place. Mantels, entertainment centers, and desktops can quickly become overcrowded and cluttered, making it difficult to troubleshoot problems. By consolidating the network in a structured wiring enclosure, homeowners save valuable space, eliminate clutter, and have easy access to all of their connected devices.
The first step is to lay out all the systems you want integrated into the home. Work backwards: start with the applications you want in every room and then plan the wiring to support them. Each system is going to have its own set of requirements for cabling, infrastructure, power, installation location, and devices used to manage and control them. We recommend installing Category 6 cabling for its performance and bandwidth advantages. Cabling standards from TIA and BICSI also recommend Category 6, and require Category 5e at a minimum.
The next step is to plan out the components needed for the various systems. Depending on the number of phone lines and internet extension locations, there are options for modules that serve as a routing point for voice and data networks. These modules give the homeowner flexibility and control over the systems just as they do in commercial buildings.
The final step is bringing the various cabling systems back to the structured wiring enclosure, similar to how a breaker box is the hub of the electrical system. Structured wiring enclosures fit between standard construction stud spaces (see photo) and accommodate everything from a small apartment-sized network to large custom homes with many system applications.
A structured wiring enclosure serves as the hub for cabling systems in the home.
The structured wiring enclosure also serves as the hub for entertainment options. A coaxial cable coming from the cable service or satellite television provider connects to a splitter located in the media enclosure and branches out to deliver video content to multiple rooms. Wholehouse audio systems can be routed through the enclosure and can be controlled by wall-mounted switches. Some installations even include home theater applications.
Many options are available to meet the needs of the homeowner’s digital lifestyle. Having a strong structured wiring backbone in an organized central hub is crucial to supporting high-bandwidth demands and optimal wireless performance. ei
Mr. Slater collaborates with sales teams around the globe.
Mr. Groenig manages residential products for Leviton
Network Solutions.
NEMA electroindustry
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April 2015

Okay, so maybe the Leviton Self-Test GFCI isn’t smarter than the wheel...but did you ever try plugging your electric shaver into a granite slab? The new UL standard, effective June 29,
2015, requires that every box-mounted GFCI manufactured must perform a self-test. Well, that’s just great! We’ve had a Self-Test GFCI for years and have always believed it is a smart solution for safer protection. And speaking of safety, Leviton SmartlockPro ® Self-Test GFCIs feature our patented Reset/Lockout , preventing reset if damaged and unable to respond to a ground fault. The safety of your family and ours is NOT an option - it’s our mission.
For more information or to speak to a sales rep, please visit www.leviton.com/SmarTest
© 2015 Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc. All rights reserved.
Electro Industry_ad_SMARTEST_A0.indd 1 3/13/15 5:36 PM

NEMA electroindustry
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April 2015