It's night and you pull into your driveway and reach for the remote -- no, not the remote control for the garage door -- the remote for your home's lighting system. One click turns operates a radio-controlled network that makes the lights both inside and outside your home respond to your command. Sound like the house of the future?

This is just one cutting edge product introduced for the first time at this year's Pacific Coast Builder's Conference for homes being built from the ground up. It's the Verve Living system, Masco Corporation's innovative product for lighting control.

Verve relies on a unique technology developed by European manufacturer EnOcean, a spin-off of Siemens Corporation and is a breakthrough in energy-harvesting, radio frequency science. EnOcean engineers discovered a way to gather energy from the simple act of clicking a switch -- energy that can be used to transmit a small, compact radio signal wirelessly and at astonishing speeds. The little transmissions from a clicker sends instructions through a ten-channel controller to lighting fixtures and outlets throughout the house.

For homebuilders, this is a huge breakthrough. The lighting system eliminates wires, batteries and -- best of all -- change orders when building a home. This saves them thousands of dollars during the build itself.

Want more? Nothing is hardwired. Verve switches can be mounted on virtually anything, anywhere within the house. Want to place switches low so your little ones or wheelchair-bound homeowners can reach them? How about on a sliding glass door? Homeowners can also lower the intensity of any light in their home from any switch or combination of switches, creating ambience while saving on energy costs and bulb life within their homes.

The technology has already become popular in Europe over the past five years and now it's here for the American market. For more information about this wireless lighting control system, go to www.vervelivingsystems.com.

Published: July 8, 2008

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