By Guy Kasier / Published on Mon, 2009-12-14 14:23
The technical aids to enable elderly people to live at home for longer do not differ so much from those that can be used to help dementia sufferers and their home carers in the home situation. The difference lies primarily with the videophone (although this could also improve social contact for non-dementia sufferers) and the GPS wandering detection techniques. In a home situation with a dementia sufferer, the emphasis is primarily on offering support to the carer, who may or may not live in the home.
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By Guy Kasier / Published on Wed, 2009-10-21 14:19
Once an electrical installation had been installed in a home in the past, that was it. So, when a domestic electrical installation was fitted, it was and in a many cases still is considered to be an unmodifiable fixture. In fact, it has always been quite difficult to make any changes to a classical electrical appliance once it is installed. Fortunately the arrival of integrated home systems means that such flexibility is now available to us (see: Definition of integrated home systems), even if the communications aspect (see: Increasing communication) is, admittedly, still in its infancy.
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By Guy Kasier / Published on Mon, 2009-08-24 07:21
When a house or apartment is built or renovated, choosing the stones for the floors is one of the easy jobs. Walking around a dealer’s showroom for a few hours is usually sufficient to return home satisfied. However, things get more difficult when you have to decide what number of electrical sockets, switches, lighting points, computer connections, telephone sockets, etc. has to be fitted in each room. The e-tool “Checklist for the electrical installation in the home” changes this situation.
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By Guy Kasier / Published on Wed, 2009-07-15 09:42
A WelHops study some years ago assessed the needs of the elderly regarding the buildings and surroundings in which they wish to live. Still as relevant today as it was when it was carried out, this study ran from May 2005 to September 2007 as part of a European INTERREG IIIC project. Taking part were partners from Italy, Sweden, the UK, Spain, and Hungary.
The project objectives were to: -
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By Bryony Samuel / Published on Mon, 2008-10-13 09:47
Leonardo ENERGY has launched a new online resource concerning the automation of modern homes for electrical contractors and educational bodies.
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By Guy Kasier / Published on Thu, 2008-07-17 10:41
Chapter 5 of this eCourse on Integrated Home Systems is published as an eBook so you can scroll the different pages using the titles below. The full chapter is also available as a PDF for download.
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By Guy Kasier / Published on Tue, 2008-04-29 10:18
Safety and security are ever more at the forefront of people’s minds as shown by many studies into the additional support techniques needed for the elderly who wish to be independent and continue living at home for longer. This is not so much about protection against burglary, but rather protecting the person himself, reflecting the fact that, when the elderly live at home alone, a major concern is that they will not be able to contact anyone were they to get ill, fall or for whatever reason suddenly to need help.
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Home of the Future
By Benoit Dome / Published on Thu, 2008-04-24 02:31
For actors in the building construction market, interested in the new possibilities of electrical technologies for smart living and ageing.
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By Guy Kasier / Published on Fri, 2008-04-18 14:21
With an ageing European population and there being fewer young people in the population, we will have to ensure that, where they wish to do so, the elderly can continue to live at home independently for longer.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Fri, 2008-02-22 17:00
By Guy Kasier, E&D Systems
This briefing paper presents the findings of the project 'Telemedicine and the consequences for urban planning and development' running from 2003 to 2007 in 4 countries. Its main findings are presented below:
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Wed, 2008-02-13 14:21
Based on a Discussion Webinar, Friday, 18 January 2008
How best to heat a house is a question that is often hotly debated. On one side, it is a purely personal choice affecting our daily life and personal comfort and productivity. But on the other side, given the enormous amount of heating energy the global built environment is consuming, it is also an important topic in the sphere of social responsibility. Residential heating is an area with great potential for carbon emission reductions.
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By Stefan Fassbinder / Published on Mon, 2008-02-11 15:08
These 2 case studies demonstrate that high-quality rewiring of domestic electrical systems in older residential buildings can yield a significant increase in home comfort.
We describe some examples of electrical refurbishment work aimed at illustrating how electricians can tap into this market.
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By Isabelle Heriakian / Published on Tue, 2008-01-29 17:00
Several beta-tests on pilot sites are planned by 2009 to test the HOMES System. Tests will include contributions from the various partners. We are expecting the first results, namely controller improvements and new controller functions, to be in even before the programme ends; in other words within two years.
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By Isabelle Heriakian / Published on Tue, 2008-01-29 16:59
Warning services based on standard consumption profiles can be foreseen in housing. For example, a regular call for 300 W of power in the middle of the night can be identified as abnormal. This may indicate that equipment has been needlessly left on. Even more precise management may soon be possible, like detecting a critical drop in the efficiency of a freezer or checking that it is completely defrosted. The HOMES project is thus going to lead to new services in general and even new individualized services. For example, monitoring the electric consumption profile of a flat occupied by an elderly person could indicate in the morning that he or she has gotten up, had breakfast, and is performing his or her normal daily routine.
But this can only be achieved by understanding the standard profile of the flat, the house or the office building. The switchboard and its components must be equipped to make the link between the control system and the actual power flows, enabling a far more accurate control of each circuit, or even each electric load.
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By Isabelle Heriakian / Published on Tue, 2008-01-29 16:56
HOMES is based on research into basic technologies. For example, we seek to make each sensor totally autonomous in energy use by incorporating its own energy generator. Very low consumption wireless functions are essential to achieving this. They must work without batteries or connection to the electricity grid.
As another example, ST Microelectronics works with silicon carbide to improve the energy balance of energy converters. What is at stake is nothing less than the promise of high energy efficiency for all equipment incorporating energy conversion.
HOMES furthermore means breakthroughs in building system architectures. Remember that one of the goals is to deal with the entire building rather than a single function. Each sub-system must therefore be able to use the sensor information yet remain capable of stand-alone operation or operation within a system. With the correct control architecture, information can be merged at system level before being redirected to each sub-system in the building. This will involve the use of algorithms and the merging of data so that the system remains coherent. To achieve the lowest possible energy consumption for a building, the buildings’ subsystems must be able to take into account the interaction between various parameters and equipment. For example: in summer is it better to shade the windows and switch on low lighting, or to switch off the lamps and let sunlight in and with it the sun’s heat which may then necessitate cooling the air? The answer can only be found through the coherent integration of the parameters of human presence, temperature, humidity, interior air quality, etc., to produce adjustment instructions for each sub-system based on the laws of control.
Lastly, none of these developments should lead to great changes in the skills required for engineering and installation. The new solutions must therefore remain intelligible while adding value.
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By Isabelle Heriakian / Published on Tue, 2008-01-29 16:55
In practice, the initial investment frequently remains a hurdle, since the investor is rarely the operator. But the HOMES Project takes both viewpoints into account. The cost of a system will therefore be – at most – equivalent to that of the system it replaces. The financial benefits of operation and maintenance will quickly become apparent.
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By Isabelle Heriakian / Published on Tue, 2008-01-29 16:50
HOMES is a French acronym for ‘optimized housing and building for better control of energy and services.’ It allies some fifteen manufacturing partners and laboratories aiming at a final breakthrough in the field of home automation and building control. The target is a 20 per cent drop in electric energy consumption through the active management of electrical equipment. HOMES is another example of the contribution by the electricity sector to the better energy performance of buildings.
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By Isabelle Heriakian / Published on Tue, 2008-01-29 16:47
The following article is the result of a discussion with Claude Ricaud and provides an overview of Homes project. The article is published as an eBook so you can scroll the different pages using the titles bellow.
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By Guy Kasier / Published on Mon, 2008-01-14 12:04
As national demographics see an ever increasing growth in the older age groups, so there is a significant demand for homes that cater to this market and to people who, for whatever reason, require some form of assisted living in their home to enable them to stay there rather than being cared for away from home – privately or by the state.
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