Right up there with all the buzz about green homes is structured wiring, now entering the main stream must-have for technology based home buyers. Structured wiring has long been a part of outfitting commercial building projects with integrated systems for data, security, and entertainment. Now, with design advances and lower costs homeowners can add heating, cooling, and lighting controls to these integrated systems. No longer Jetson-cute, these systems are energy and time-savers for homeowners.

Driving the early demand were needs by homeowners to network computer and media equipment. Structured wiring is easy to picture. Coaxial TV cable (RG-6), Category 5E voice and data lines, distributed radio, remote camera security are wired throughout a home into multi-outlet boxes called in the trade, home network centers. The beauty of the system is that it allows one point of origin for connecting all the computers in a home to DSL.

With the addition of a control panel, you can pre-set furnace and air-conditioning, lighting to auto-off/on, deliver audio room-by-room, and raise and lower window shades, all by programming your control center. Some systems also allow you to call your home telephone and enter prompts remotely.

Structured wiring can be added to an existing home or specified to a new one. The system costs roughly $1,500 in new construction and double in a retro fit. It has not replaced light traditional electrical wiring, but special technicians should be used to lay out blueprints and plan for future upgrades. Energy costs saved can help offset initial structured wiring costs.