Lighting control has long been one of many systems that Oldsmar, Fla.–based S&S Electric installs for its customers. But in the last several months, vice president Shawn Smith has seen the technology in a new light—specifically, a green one.

“We've heard people talk about green options,” says Smith. “I get a call about it once a week. They're asking, ‘How do we get a green home?'”

Typically, says Smith, lighting control is sold to home buyers as a convenience. But as environmental consciousness gains momentum, those same buyers are seeking to be as Earth-friendly as they can, and lighting control is more marketable than ever. “Buyers ask, ‘What can we do to make our homes green?' They're not really aware that lighting control is an option.”

In fact, when it comes to marketing and selling energy-efficient, digital home technology, lighting control is a reasonable place to start. According to the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Program:

• Consumption for all lighting in the United States is estimated to be about 22 percent of total electricity generated.
• Lighting accounts for one-fifth of national electricity consumption.
• It costs approximately $58 billion a year to light homes, offices, streets, and factories.
• Twenty-five percent of a home's electric bill is for lighting.

When you throw in rising energy costs and the influence of California's Title 24 legislation (see “Get to Know Title 24, ” page 28), lighting control—the ability for new homeowners to automatically manage their lights—becomes an answer to various consumption questions.

“Lighting control will become an economic imperative, especially with the mandates of Title 24,” says Barry Haaser, senior director for the LonWorks Infrastructure Business at Echelon Corp., a San Jose, Calif.–based home automation company. “It's not yet an all-or-nothing proposition, but it's coming at us fast and furious.”

Changing Minds

Lighting control has always been something of a “green-enabling” technology. It's just that most home buyers haven't always thought of it that way. Nor has it been sold to them with that emphasis.

“We've all been doing smart homes for 15 years now, and all of a sudden this green thing has caught on,” says Dan Fulmer, president of FulTech Solutions, a high-end home automation installer in Jacksonville, Fla. (www.fultechsolutions.com). He acknowledges that no single home automation technology is the end-all-be-all, “But if you control the AC and your drapes, blinds, and lights, you're pretty green,” he says.

Fulmer works with builders on homes that range from $1 million to $2 million and that run anywhere from 5,000 square feet to 20,000 square feet. Lighting control and automation are par for the course in such homes, where an electric bill can average $500 to $600 per month, he says.

People who buy these homes know they are going to use more energy, but lighting control lets them program scenes, such as dimmer lights in the dining room, brighter lights in the living room, and lights off upstairs when entertaining. With such control, they enhance their homes and, potentially, use less energy. “You can go green, and it has a better effect,” says Fulmer. “The homeowner gets what they want, and it's going to save money. It's a deal closer.”