by Christy Heitger-Ewing
One reason it is so appealing to build a custom home is because you, as the homeowner, get to be in control, peruse all the options, make all the choices, and create the ideal home that suits your wants and needs.
“It’s nice being in control – especially when it comes to options around power management,” says Candace Hoffman, Business Development Manager for BRAVAS Indianapolis. “These days more and more homeowners are intent on having clean energy homes.”
BRAVAS, a leading technology innovator, has teamed up with Savant Systems to provide their clients with the ability to control their energy use and their home’s microgrid. Tom Gunderson, Technical Sales Manager for Savant Midwest and Canada, notes that this isn’t a new endeavor. Seven years ago, Bob Madonna, CEO of Savant Systems, knew that homeowners were going to be adding things like solar, back-up generators, battery supplies, and other alternative energy sources to their homes. So, he started a separate company called Racepoint Energy to develop innovation around this technology. Last year, Racepoint Energy was folded back into Savant Systems; creating what is now called Savant Power.
“Because of this technology, consumers can be completely in control of the energy that is coming into their home,” says Gunderson. “BRAVAS takes their expertise in home automation, making the home work for their client by adding in this additional level of energy management.”
While the west coast has been focused on energy efficiency for some time, that trend is now trickling across the country as people embrace alternative energy uses (e.g., electric cars). Powering your home in the cleanest way possible is a top priority for many energy-conscious homeowners.
According to Gunderson, at some point all companies will be focused on energy savings. In addition, some homeowners are adding solar to their houses in order to help offset energy usage in a greener fashion. BRAVAS steps in by partnering with Savant Power, allowing clients to take full advantage of all of these technologies, integrated together.
“We can take all of the home automation that us, and BRAVAS, have been doing for years and fold it into a technology that will manage the microgrid – something that will make your electric panel smart,” says Gunderson. “We have to do more than just flipping breakers on and off. We maximize technology like solar, battery storage or wind.”
With the help and expertise of BRAVAS, Savant can dynamically manage a power load. This gives customer flexibility to not only save money but also create greater efficiency by setting their home to “eco mode” or “island mode” if they don’t want to be tied to the main grid for a stretch of time. You can easily push a button on your phone to take the house off the main grid and be on your backup supply.
Having this technological knowledge helps differentiate BRAVAS in the Indianapolis market because they have the capability with Savant to supply this to their builders and clients. Gunderson, who covers 15 states and Canada for Savant, is seeing an increased number of builders who recognize the value in this technology, and BRAVAS is right there to help lead the way with their expertise, supplying this modern technology.
“We get a lot of requests from builders who understand why this is needed and are jumping all over it,” says Gunderson. Still, confusion abounds as one company supplies a generator to a house while another company supplies solar. That solar company may add batteries…or maybe not. It is important to keep things unified so that when they are brought to the job site, a builder is not left with three independent things that don’t work together.
BRAVAS, whose team is seasoned in integrating systems in homes, takes whatever the sub-system is in a house and finds a way to integrate it together so that it works seamlessly. It is estimated that the landscape will look quite different in a year or two as the adoption rate on managing these energy systems grows. With the possibility of it being 10, 20, to even a 40% increase, BRAVAS is ready and able to help.
To learn more about taking control of your energy use, contact the experts at BRAVAS.
