Locate Your AC Ducts within the Home's Conditioned Space

Designing and locating the HVAC ducts (and the air handling unit (AHU)) within the home's conditioned space can minimize energy losses significantly by increasing the operating efficiency of the HVAC system in your home.. As per studies by US Department of Energy (DOE) and EPA, moving ducts within the conditioned space can reduce cooling and heating loads by over 10%.

Even if ducts are well insulated there could be leakages at some points (damaged/ decaying insulation (over time)), causing loss of conditioned air, or if the ducts are located in vented attics or crawl spaces there could be energy losses because of temperature difference (delta).

1) Insulating the attic (if ducts in attic) or 2) using a false/dropped ceiling in your home corridors (where the ducts are running) are two most effective and economical solutions 

One of the best ways to accommodate ducts in conditioned space (also possible in case of late design stage intervention and retrofitting) is using dropped false ceiling - one can drop the ceiling within the circulation space (ducts run in the circulation space) to accommodate the ducts within the conditioned space. The AHU can be located in the closet and the supply registers to individual rooms can be on the wall surface adjoining the corridor, thus maintaining the height of individual rooms.

- See more at: http://www.smartzerohome.com/HVAC_Ducts_conditioned_Smart%20Zero%20Home.html#sthash.0dmDP8YE.dpuf

Phantom Loads in Your Home & How to Control Them...

Plug Loads or electricity usage from devices and appliances that are plugged into electric sockets can account for electricity usage even when not in use or even when they are turned off. This energy usage by plugged-in appliances is often referred to as “phantom loads”. These can account for over $100 of energy bills over a year in a typical 3 bedroom home.

There are a number of advanced power strips and controls that are available to counter these phantom plug loads. These power strips and controls can be plugged into the electric socket, and the appliances in turn can be plugged into the power strip. These strips can be driven by an occupancy sensor (senses the absence and turns-off), or a timer (based on pre-set schedule (e.g. post 10pm)), or remotely controlled, or just be a simple master strip that can be turned off manually. Controls from companies such as WeMo and TP Link can be accessed from your mobile phones and are Wi-Fi enabled.

Plug load controls can reduce the 'Phantom Loads' by ensuring the appliances are switched off

Here are the best plug load controls available in the market today, based on our analysis, and feedback from customers and contractors:

- See more at: http://www.smartzerohome.com/Smart_PhantomLoadControls.html#sthash.kfKUpPuU.dpuf

http://www.smartzerohome.com/Smart_PhantomLoadControls.html

Target's Smart Home "Open House"

A number of small and larger Fortune 500 companies are starting to develop technologies and integrated platforms to enable large scale adoption of Smart Home technologies. This includes technology giants such as Google, Apple, Microsoft and Samsung, as well as retailers such as Target.

We (SmartZeroHome.com) recently visited the newly opened Target Smart Home demonstration "open house" in downtown San Francisco, and were pleasantly surprised. 

Target's Smart Home demonstration set-up in downtown San Francisco showcases what a connected smart home of the future could be like

The demonstration set-up is adjoining the Target store and the Metreon center, on the intersection of 3rd and Mission st. It shows how various devices in different rooms of the 'Smart Home' connect with each other and interact with the resident and adapt to their habits and preferences. 

The open house showcases some of the latest smart home devices and technologies, and demonstrates how the smart connected devices would work together to simplify your life.

- See more at: http://www.smartzerohome.com/Smart_TargetSmartHome.html#sthash.rTTTKRKm.dpuf