With Earth Day right around the corner, many people tend to jump on the eco-bandwagon, going the extra mile to recycle, use less water and turn off unnecessary lights – unfortunately many of these green behaviors don’t last for long. It’s surprising, especially since it’s constantly reinforced that leading a greener lifestyle is not only beneficial to our planet, but can also positively impact your wallet. Integrating eco-elements can help you save on a variety of costs; something business owners have caught onto as well.

The overall goal of any eco-venue is to design and implement environmentally friendly features that help reduce energy, water, waste and more – all in the most cost effective way possible. And the benefits are showing. Owners who have invested in greening their businesses are beginning to see the payoff in a big way.

Subway Franchisees Commit to Sustainability

Over the years Subway has developed many initiatives to help their consumers lead healthier lives; priding themselves on offering lighter, fresher fare. But now the sandwich brand is taking this idea to the next level by focusing on what they can do to promote a more sustainable, healthier planet.

A new, high-tech Subway franchise in Kokomo, Indiana recently received the state’s first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) commercial project certification thanks in part to a Control4 automation system. As part of Subway’s Eat Fresh, Live Green™ Eco-Restaurant initiative, the restaurant earned accolades for its use of intelligent automation technology for saving energy and for its green-building methodologies.

Huston’s Nate Cushman explains the new technology to the Subway team.

George Estep, franchisee of the newly opened Subway, had experienced the sting of his monthly electricity bills at his other restaurants and knew that building a “green” restaurant was about more than just recycled construction materials and native plantings. “Rising utility expenses were a factor in deciding to make this location a showcase of energy efficiency,” stated Estep.

Estep teamed up with Brandon Pitcher, Chief Sustainability Officer at Indiana-based real estate development firm, Fortune Management, who presented a vision for a store that was high-tech, economically sound and environmentally conscious. Pitcher then commissioned Huston Electric to create a fully automated lighting, HVAC, and occupancy sensor-driven system powered by Control4 that would allow the building to act and react automatically to predetermined commands.

The building was fit with programmable light switches, thermostats, motion sensors, daylight sensors, and an eGauge energy monitoring device that communicates wirelessly with the Control4 system. The processes were then automated so interior and exterior lights would switch on and off based on pre-set opening and closing hours, bathroom and kitchen lights function based upon occupancy, and two exterior light level sensors harvest daylight to automatically conserve power. When the sensors reach a set percentage of light, near 60%, the dining room lights on the side room will shut off, thereby “harvesting” the natural light coming into the dining area. Thermostats were also programmed to rise or drop automatically based on business hours alongside an in-ceiling ERV air recovery unit also controlled through a Control4 switch. A monitor in the lobby displays the Control4 navigator with the Eragy App in real time, acting both as an education and informational display tool.

Measuring Energy Savings

In order to measure the project goal of a return on investment within 36 months, Huston turned to Eragy, a leading provider of smart energy software applications and services, to monitor the building’s overall power usage. The Eragy system monitors electrical loads throughout the restaurant so that energy usage can be tracked and accessed remotely, allowing the restaurant staff to quickly understand projected monthly energy costs even before they get their bill, and make prior adjustments as needed.

Being able to monitor and record the shops’ energy savings allows Estep to track just how much money he is saving on his monthly electric bill. The energy savings alone is projected, at its current rate, to pay for the system in just over 2 1/2 years – sooner than their original goal. At that point, the energy savings becomes additional profit to the business’ bottom line.

Subway displays its energy usage on a large monitor for customers to enjoy.

“Control4 and Eragy allowed us to combine high tech with a positive environmental impact,” stated Huston’s Nate Cushman. “By organizing the different systems to work together, we’ve created effortless control with environmental consciousness that allows this Subway location to monetize their energy savings.”

The store displays the energy usage on a large monitor for customers to enjoy and discuss. “We invested in an intelligent system because it made solid economic sense,” said Pitcher. “We went public with Eragy’s Watts On Now! app to expose customers and staff to the real world energy usage it takes to make a Subway operate. We want our store to provide creative and interactive experiences to our customers so they gain an understanding about economic and environmental issues.”

“Eco-restaurants reflect our commitment to social responsibility and sustainability,” said Marketing Director Elizabeth Stewart, who heads the Subway brand’s corporate social responsibility efforts. “We have pledged to make our restaurants and operations more environmentally responsible and it’s exciting when a franchisee takes this level of effort with their restaurant. They set a great example of just what can be done.”

With today’s affordable technology solutions, even small restaurants and businesses can deliver a high-tech experience to customers, while also enjoying energy savings.

By: Steve Castle, GreenTech Advocates

His company contributed energy-saving systems to one of the most energy-efficient and green homes in the country, but Mark van den Broek of SmartHouse Integration in Sarasota, Fla., doesn’t necessarily believe in going all-out green with some of his clients.

In fact, he believes in keeping it simple—and slow—for those still struggling to grasp the benefits of electronic home systems that can help consumers conserve energy and cut their utility costs.

“Everybody wants to save energy, it’s just a matter of education,” says Mark van den Broek. “Some people get it, and some you’ve got to spoon-feed it.”

Efficiency Through Home Control

Van den Broek didn’t exactly have to spoon-feed the owners of the newly constructed “Power Haus,” a custom-built Sarasota residence that claims the lowest HERS (Home Energy Rating System) score in the United States, a negative 22, which means the house produces more energy than it uses. (A score of zero means it produces all its own energy.) The house also scored 118 LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) points, making it one of the highest-scoring LEED homes in the country. You can see a slide show of the Power Haus here.

In addition to having a 14.2-kilowatt Uni-Solar PV rooftop array, Energy Star-rated appliances, highly efficient heating and cooling systems and walls filled with spray foam insulation, the Power Haus boasts an Elan g! home control system that ties together HVAC, security, lighting control of the home’s many LED (light emitting diode) fixtures, audio/video distribution, dehumidifiers and pool and spa controls and offers on its touchscreens a quick link to the web-based Uni-Solar monitoring portal so the homeowners can see how much electricity their solar array is producing.

Efficiency Through Simplicity

As van den Broek and builder Josh Wynne of Josh Wynne Construction understand, efficiencies are gained by tying home systems together. For example, the lighting, HVAC and security systems have occupancy sensing so when the owners arm the system and leave the house, the home goes into a low-energy AWAY mode.

“You can tie the systems together, but we’re tuning it so they speak to each other and react to the programming we designed,” van den Broek says. “When the security talks to lighting system and the pool, and we write programs that make all that efficiency possible, that’s when it really, really starts to save energy.”

An 8-foot-diameter ceiling fan helps keep the house cool, and the tongue-and-groove ceiling is backed with spray foam insulation. The home control system also routes audio and video throughout the house.

Though what sells the Elan g! system in the Power Haus isn’t the efficiencies gained, but the simplicity it offers the homeowners. “Not all of my clients are super tech-savvy, and neither am I, so I like things that are simple and reliable,” said Wynne.

“Simplicity was the key with the homeowners,” echoes van den Broek.

So how do you sell that? Van den Broek offers a few simple tips:

1. Keep Efficiency Simple

“We’ve been doing energy management in some form since day one.” van den Broek says his company. He cites programming lighting control systems to illuminate lights to 90 percent to save 10 percent on the energy involved, for example. It’s simple, little efficiencies like this that can be baked into a good home systems design.

2. Start Small

“We take a real common sense approach to it as well,” van den Broek says. “We show them simple ways to gain some money on their investment. If they don’t want to, we put in a few dimmer switches. We say, ‘Let’s work on your outdoor lights, backyard lights.’ It’s something tangible and easy for them to digest and it doesn’t affect their lifestyles.”

3. Future Proof For Them

“Sometimes we’ll wire on our dime for [possible future upgrades],” van den Broek says. “[Later] we’ll call a client back and revisit some of the things they talked about but they didn’t get with our system. And that, of course, can include energy management.

Control4, a leader in affordable IP-based home control systems, is pleased to be a participating company in Southern California Edison’s Smart Energy Experience, one of the first exhibits in the country to provide a live demonstration of how smart appliances and devices work with a smart meter. The home area network at the Smart Energy Experience is based on the Control4^® platform, the Control4^® Energy Management System 100 (EMS 100).

The Smart Energy Experience is designed as a home exhibit to help customers learn about and experience smart grid technologies being researched at Southern California Edison. Displays in the exhibit provide a glimpse into the future of energy distribution and consumption. Demonstrations include the future of power delivery via smart grid technologies, including home area networking of smart meters, smart appliances and devices, solar installations, plug-in electric vehicles and other future green technologies.

Southern California Edison (SCE) highlights the Control4^® EMS 100 at the exhibit, including the ability to monitor real-time fluctuations in electricity usage using the Control4^® Energy Controller 100 (EC-100) and leveraging the Control4 platform to present that information on flat panels throughout the house. The Control4^® system is also used to adjust the lighting and thermostat in response to electricity usage and costs, based on customer preference.

A compelling feature of the smart grid for both utilities and homeowners is the triggering of demand response or pricing events to help utilities and consumers work together to manage energy load, particularly during peak times. The demand response event demonstrated at the Smart Energy Experience involves communication to a programmable communicating thermostat, smart lighting, televisions and household appliances. As this communication takes place the devices respond by reducing their power consumption to pre-set levels selected and programmed by the customer. Within seconds, the Control4^® EC-100 displays the resulting load reduction, reinforcing the value of the action to the homeowner. Through the Control4 platform, all of the information is also displayed on flat panels throughout the exhibit, demonstrating how SCE envisions effectively integrating energy management in people’s everyday lives.

“The Southern California Edison Smart Energy Experience is a showcase in Control4 interoperability,” stated Richard Walker, President, Control4 Energy Systems, “We are pleased to partner with a forward-thinking utility like Southern California Edison. The Smart Energy Experience is a powerful demonstration of SCE’s interest in delivering a compelling consumer experience to help customers embrace the benefits of the smart grid.”

The Smart Energy Experience is located at SCE’s Customer Technology Application Center (CTAC) at 6090 North Irwindale Ave., Irwindale CA. More information can be found at www.sce.com.

For more information on Control4, visit www.control4.com.