An innovative partnership in sunny south Florida aims to show how digital technology can work hand-in-glove with "green" building techniques to save energy and protect the environment. The proof: two, loaded-to-the-max model homes that are twice as efficient as typical homes.

The partners: Solaris Home Systems, a Palm Beach Gardens home-automation company that relocated from Chicago in 2005; Affiniti Architects; and Cribb Construction of South Florida, a high-end home builder located in West Palm Beach.

After conceiving the green homes project in 2003, Solaris went looking for partners, says chairman Tom Pirelli, a software developer who got into home automation as a hobby in his Chicago home a decade ago. He found Buddy Cribb, the construction company's president, after asking friends to recommend quality builders. "There was no such thing as green builders three years ago," Pirelli says. "Buddy was reluctant, to be honest. I'm not sure he's a believer. It does add a premium to the house."

Late last year, the partners completed two model homes in Jupiter Springs in Palm Beach County. The homes are so green that in February, they were on the verge of being awarded silver or gold ratings for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED awards points for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

Cribb says his company, founded by his father in 1942, has built more than 3,000, mostly high-end custom homes. Most are 5,000 to 10,000 square feet in size, but the two model homes range between 2,500 and 2,800 square feet. Pirelli moved his family into one of them the day after Christmas.

Electronic Nerve Center

The brains of the house is Solaris' Environment Management Automation (EMA) system, a computer controlled via an Ethernet switch from touch screens by the garage door and in the kitchen, or by voice command, phone, or the Internet. Cat-5e network cable, coax for the cable system, and standard alarm wire form its nervous system. Homeowners can enter their standard daily departure and arrival times, or vacation times, in an "away" mode so the system can minimize energy use for lights, appliances, and energy systems. It can also gear them up so, for example, the air conditioning powers on a half-hour early to reach its preset temperature. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags on residents' keychains recognize friendly arrivals and deactivate the security system and the EMA's away mode.

Pirelli says daily e-mail reports tell him such things as the temperature and which doors were opened (each access point is controlled electronically). The feature proved its mettle early on, when Pirelli received an emergency report that pointed to a suspicious uptick on the water meter. "Had I not had that feature, the water could have run for two weeks," he says, damaging the inside of the house. Instead, he paid $400 to remotely dispatch a plumber for an emergency run, avoiding thousands of dollars in repair costs.

Every room has a motion sensor, all windows are wired, and a Web camera takes frequent snapshots. "There's no way anyone can get into the house without us knowing," Pirelli claims. The strategy is to scare intruders away by blaring sirens like those in the Star Trek television series. The EMA screen also provides one-touch activation of home-entertainment devices, he says.