Wind Turbine Generators

Home Automation has become possible due to the advances made in micro-electronic devices, enabling control and communication technologies to develop to the stage where they are compact, reliable and inexpensive to produce. Modern manufacturing techniques have enabled compact, relatively cheap, control modules and assemblies, to become available in the wholesale and retail market places.

The service providers, for all energy sources, are endeavouring to monitor and control usage, at the consumer delivery point. Remote meter reading and control of delivery in peak periods,  are some of the techniques being developed and deployed, and I am sure that we shall see the same control conditions applied to water supplies soon.

Generally, however, the term Home Automation, is applied to control and monitoring devices, installed in the consumers' home. These vary in their type and usage depending upon the requirements of the user, and offer the following operational characteristics :

1.Convenience. Users are able to sets an overall operating condition for the premises, providing ease of use  and convenient maintainability.
2.Security. Providing control of access to the premises, also monitoring of fault conditions, such as fire, flooding and errors in the system itself.
3.Economy.  The optimisation of energy usage.  Most important under the present conditions of raising costs and global warming.
4.Local Communication. Inter-connection of equipment installed within the premises, using mains-carrier, radio or cable, allowing discrete units to be assembled into larger systems.
5.Remote Monitoring and Control.  Advances in mobile, radio and internet protocols has enable the extension of the system domain to remote locations.

The market for these devices will increase. DIY installations may be prominent at present, but with the continuing development and construction of energy efficient homes, this as about to change. First-builds will incorporate building control techniques as standard practise, and by their very nature, will optimise even further the advantages that the technology has to offer.

On-site, alternative energy sources, wind and solar, offer additional savings, and when employed within the home environment, will require  control and storage techniques, to optimise their availability to the domestic consumer.  They also offer the added advantage that the energy requirements of the system, need not be added to the domestic energy budget. Also in the event of a power-outage, essential system services can still be supported.

Air and ground heat recovery systems will also play a prominent part in the overall management and optimisation of  our usage of the limited resources available. All buildings require ventilation, and it is essential that the heat is recover from the airflow, before it is exhausted to the outside environment. A heat pump is used in the recovery, and returns this energy to the system, usually to the domestic hot water supply. In contrast, ground recovery systems obtain low level energy from subterranean sources, and this is transformed within the system to high level energy, compatible with the temperature requirements current at the time.

A large proportion of the energy budget for the United Kingdom will rely on alternative sources, wind, solar, wave and tidal, at least for domestic use. However, manufacturing and renewal of the infrastructure, will require a hard power option, most probably nuclear into the foreseeable future.

Home automation promises to supply the answer to many of our energy supply problems, and promises to be an interesting and successful industry, creating employment and environmental security for the coming years.

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About the Author:
Brian L Bennett
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Tags: Alternative Energy, Wind