Independent programming and consulting for commercial and residential AV systems
CTO Oliver Pemberton
Programming Crestron systems since 2002, became a certified Crestron Authorized Independent Programmer (CAIP) in 2004 and have continued
to return to Crestron every year since for ongoing Master's level training
Programming AMX systems since 1996, became certified in 2001.
Project Managing and Engineering AV systems since 1988.
[Theme Parks, Themed Attractions, Museums, Large Scale Retail etc]
Since 2000, a large number of successful residential project programmed
Contact information:
(323) 654 0183 (office)
(323) 650 8695 (fax)
(818) 203 7387 (cell)
oliver at spannertech dot com
Location: Studio City, CA.
A discussion about energy usage of residential systems
My projects are either in a residential setting, or various commercial applications -
corporate boardrooms, educational facilities, casinos, retail etc. Most of my residential
work is close to home here in southern California. These systems vary from a single home-theater
setup in one room, to systems that comprise racks of equipment in a central location feeding TVs,
sound systems etc in many rooms. These systems are typically left on 24/7 and give off tremendous amounts of heat.
Clients have also wondered aloud if it really has to be this way. The norm is that, because the
installer/integrator is not paying the bill, the path of least resistance is for the installation/integration
company to simply leave the gear powered on or in standby 24/7. This way, any device controlled from
the control system is immediately "ready to action". This is certainly the way they are expected to work.
As technology advances our homes are filling up with more and more electronics, but we could choose to be much smarter than just leaving
equipment plugged in 24/7, especially if we are to reduce, not endlessly increase our consumption.
Most people are aware of the power consumed by equipment that is in "standby" mode. Any gear that
you shut off with a remote control goes into "standby" mode. It's not really that "off" inside.
It still has to be "on" enough to wake up from the remote control. The power it consumes in this
condition is usually a few watts, but those watt/hours add up, especially if going 24/7.
There are a number of things that can be done to vastly reduce the "idling" power drawn (and therefore heat produced).
The obvious thing is to not only put gear into standby but also do the equivalent of pulling the plug out when not required - easily
achievable with power control relays, and these relays can be controlled from the control system. This can be applied
to DVD players, VCRs, receivers, non-DVR cable/satellite boxes pretty safely. The trade-off is that a little more
programming is required, and likely a longer wait for equipment to power up. Equipment containing hard drives has to be carefully
considered:- probably the manufacturer is not likely to endorse daily reboots and so it's mostly likely these will need to be left powered.
So one "level" of power saving is to selectively shut off gear
when it is not used. Another level might be to have a night switch
which shuts off more gear (which might include perhaps network routers, DSL modems, printers etc) for the night which can then be re-activated
to a schedule in the morning. A third level might be to enable the home
owner to power down the vast majority of gear, for when the house is
going to be vacated for an extended period. It turns out that a good
number of clients who can afford the largest and most complex systems
also have multiple homes, and so do often travel away for extended periods.
Besides the proliferation of AV equipment with remote controls,
all sorts of other gear now consumes "standby" power when it need not.
In the quest for market share, features are added, because it's
cheap to do so. A good example is the humble toaster: the old low-tech
toaster consumed nothing when not in use because it was purely a mechanical switch, closed by the force of pressing on the lever. Now,
toasters, coffee makers and all sorts of other appliances, have added features like a
clock, display and/or control panel with electronics built in, which draw a little power all the time. All these little loads add up in a single
dwelling. Add this increase up over whole cities, and the power company has to think about building new power stations to handle this increase.
On a more personal note, I will admit to being a concerned environmentalist and an infrastructure junkie: I like to get people to think about where our power actually comes from.
Here in Los Angeles, most of us get our power from the LA Department of Water and Power.
Most of us have some idea about how power is made (burning coal, nuclear, natural gas etc)
but what about specifically our power here in LA. Where does it really come from?
We're not a coal mining state and we have all sorts of clean-air laws to keep our
skies clear. But, a slightly dirty little secret is that 47% of our power comes
from burning coal - out of state. At least it's marginally better than the 52% national average. Yes, in Utah, and until recently Arizona, coal
burnt miles away keeps our lights on. The now closed Mohave Generating Station
in Arizona used to pollute the skies over the Grand Canyon, before it was closed
down in 2007 unable to comply with emissions regulations. You can go on Google Earth here
and look at the Intermountain Power Plant in Utah, and you can see coal trains,
and you can follow the train tracks back to the coal mines that produce the coal.
It's an incredible system. These power stations burn trainloads of coal a day
providing baseload power - power generated that is always on, because it is not
feasable to "turn it up or down". Other more nimble sources or power, like
hydroelectric (7% from LADWP), Natural Gas (29% from LADWP) and renewables
(8% from LADWP) are more controllable and are ramped up and down on an hourly
basis to match demand. The other baseload source is Nuclear (9% from LADWP).
Resume
Training Courses & certifications
Handy stuff for programmers
When Standby <> Off
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