Malibu: the land of luxury and fame in California, and home to the state’s first zero carbon home. But that doesn’t mean the house is a barebones setup. To keep in line with the homeowner’s aspirations of having a 100% off the grid home with all the environmental controls fit for the utmost comfort and modern entertainment, they brought on the team at DSI Luxury Technology to create a truly groundbreaking smart home.

“The intent of this homeowner was to have the first Zero Carbon home in California. This means that everything related to power consumption was vitally important,” stated Eric Thies. “At the same time, we needed to deliver a home technology experience that was as luxurious as this 14,000 square foot luxury home. This meant delivering an exceptional theater, 25+ zones of audio, and voice control of every system.”

The project also came with its own unique set of considerations regarding the Zero Carbon aspirations. For instance, every component, down to the fabric of the shading solutions that were being installed, needed to be assessed for environmental impact. Additionally, the owner was an incredibly technical client, meaning the solution Thies came up with had to be special and unique on the technology front.

Lutron Controls and Josh.AI Power an Incredibly Efficient Lighting System

With Tesla panels and batteries providing the generation and storage of electricity for the home, Thies selected Lutron to help control the function and power draw of the impressive lighting system. Special lighting drivers allow the lights to dim up to 1% for maximum efficiency with Thies also adding in an ‘Eco Mode’ in addition to load shedding. This allows the system to intelligently minimize lighting loads in the event of a low battery. The system even works with the home’s water vapor fireplaces!

For an extra added layer of convenience and control, Thies also paired the Lutron controls with a Josh.AI custom solution. The addition worked even better than the client could have imagined, Thies said. With Josh.AI’s intuitive control software, the client can now control lights from any room in the house without having to specify the zone. Josh simply knows what room they are speaking from and adjusts.

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The HVAC system, too, was wired into the control of the home. Able to automatically detect when any of the pocket doors are open to the outside, the system can now limit itself to the respective rooms and provide immediate energy savings.

Other elements Thies added to the home include complete, room-to-room audio distribution by Sonos as well as an impressive CATS acoustical system, Sony projector and 10-foot-wide film screen by Screen Innovations for the entertainment center, all controllable through the Josh.AI interface.

Self-Healing Networks Brings a Different Kind of Security

A consideration to go in tandem with the home’s off-grid aspirations, Thies designed a system that was smart enough to bounce back after an inevitable power interruption. ‘Always-on’ technology such as the modems, switches, security cameras and routers were all hooked into the control system so they could be monitored. That way, in the event of an outage, the network can automatically reset any devices that don’t immediately turn back on afterwards.

Thies didn’t want to leave it up to the smart home to check itself, however. The team at DSI was sure to give the client full insight into the home environment as well, with complete wiring diagrams, as-builts, rack elevations, lighting schedules and power consumption data being made available upon the project’s completion.

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