Innovations in Smart, Universal, Energy-efficient and Water-saving Home Appliances

Design professionals can select innovative appliances to provide greater water conservation and energy savings in sustainably designed homes for people of all ages and abilities.
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Sponsored by TOTO and Whirlpool Corporation
Celeste Allen Novak AIA, LEED AP

Placing an electric outlet near a toilet (close enough to hide the cords) allows for the addition of a bidet type seat. Toilets and lavatory faucets should have quarter turn shut of valves. Shower floors need to have nonslip shower pans and all shower faucets provided with an automatic, sensor-operated thermostatic mixing valve to avoid scalding. Some design professionals may also wish to investigate new shower faucets that can provide for hands-free temperature controls.

In kitchens, many of the same principles apply. In kitchens, manufacturers are exploring new cool-to-the-touch surfaces for cooking as in the magnetic induction cooktop. They are finding ways to wash dishes and refrigerate food at wheelchair-accessible heights. Counters and preparation areas should have options for both small and tall users with adjustable cooktops, sinks, faucets and stoves. Designers should review the placement of "landing" surfaces for hot foods that are removed from microwaves and ovens. They also need to listen to their client's use of the kitchen, to design around any special needs or abilities. Above all, professionals should recognize that Universal Design is great design that celebrates the abilities of all and avoids the appearance of loss or illness.

Sustainability: Measuring Green

There are numerous guides to green home design and whether the designer chooses to follow the USGBC LEED® for HOMES guide, the Built Green, National Homeowners Association program, or the Home Energy Rating System (HERS), a national ENERGY STAR program; often the goals are the same. Saving energy, conserving water, measuring and improving indoor air quality, downsizing equipment, and upsizing usability will help the environment.

The Smart Grid

In the next few years, more appliances will be manufactured with digital technology that will help alleviate the growing demand on the national electric grid. According to some manufacturers, there will be appliances by 2015 that will be able to "plug in" to a smart, national, electric grid.  These appliances will be equipped with hardware and software that will allow them to know the peak demand on electricity in a system, in order to choose the most cost-effective time to consume energy. 

Smart Grid-compatible appliances are equipped with hardware and software that allows them to receive communications from a utility. When a critical peak is occurring or when energy prices are high the appliances can respond by delaying or minimizing appliance power use. Compatible appliances will also be capable of providing consumers with real-time information about their energy consumption - information they can use to make smarter energy-consumption decisions such as delaying the start of a dishwasher or a load of laundry.

 The Smart Grid will deliver electricity from suppliers to consumers in way that saves energy, lowers utility costs and reduce CO2 emissions. Designers will be able to provide Smart Grid appliances soon to their clients.

Having a home with energy-efficient features can also help homeowners apply for Energy Efficient Mortgages,13 receive utility rebates as well as increase the sales value of their homes. The Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE)14 was established in 1995 and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, maintained by the North Carolina Solar Center and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council. The DSIRE website is a resource for professionals who need to help their clients gain the benefits of upgrading to energy-efficient products. It contains a database of all federal as well as state incentives for rebates and can be searched by commercial or residential projects by state. It also includes rules, regulations and policies, including appliance efficiency standards.

Both ENERGY STAR and WaterSense labels provide some assurance of energy savings and water conservation. Both of these programs provide buying guides, appliance calculators and lists of approved equipment. WaterSense differs from the ENERGY STAR label, as WaterSense products require third-party certification and testing.

In the LEED® for Homes checklist, the design professional can gain points in Category 3 Indoor Water Use; for 3.1 High-Efficiency Fixtures and Fittings and 3.2 for Very High-Efficient Fixtures and Fittings. In this rating system, fixtures and fittings may have higher flow rates than the super-efficient fixtures mentioned in this article. The same is true in many of the Built Green rating systems, as well as the proposed new International Green Construction Code (IGCC) draft that architects and engineers are currently developing as a model law in the United States for all construction. Whether the design professional is using a rating system, an ENERGY STAR and/or a WaterSense label as a means to benchmark green standards, setting the bar high for your clients will help them achieve their desired goals for energy efficiency and water conservation.

Endnotes

1  http://www.epa.gov/WaterSense/calculate_your_water_savings.html

2  http://www.epa.gov/WaterSense/about_us/index.html

3  http://www.epa.gov/WaterSense/water_efficiency/benefits_of_water_efficiency.html

4  www.energystar.gov

5  http://www.epa.gov/WaterSense/docs/het_suppstat508.pdf

6  http://www.drinktap.org/consumerdnn/Home/WaterInformation/Conservation/
WaterUseStatistics/tabid/85/Default.aspx

7  http://greenhomeguide.com/askapro/question/are-induction-cooktops-better-for-indoor-air-quality-than-gas

8  http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=refrig.calculator

9  http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_find_es_products

10  http://www.michigan.gov/dleg/0,1607,7-154-25676-217575--,00.html

11  http://www.cee1.org/

12  www.HumanCenteredDesign.org. Lecture at the TOTO Gallery Boston. 2010.

13  http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/eem/eemhog96.cfm

14  http://www.dsireusa.org/

 

Architect Celeste Allen Novak AIA, LEED AP, specializes in sustainable design and teaches as an adjunct professor at Lawrence Technological University.

Whirlpool Corporation TOTO®

 

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Originally published in Architectural Record
Originally published in July 2010

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