Mind The Gap

Slogans, mottos, catchphrases, mantras. Every company develops them to position and establish an image or association for their product or service.

Bridging the Gap Between Broadband and Construction™ is ours at Homepath Products and here is why.

We’re adding the ability to change wiring as a structural element in energy conserving homes....helping homeowners achieve energy efficiency without compromising their desire for advanced technology.

If ever you have lived in a mature home, a house built before the arrival of telephone, cable TV or the internet, you’re familiar with the various methods of upgrading wires to add modern appliances. Approaches range from completely tearing out sections of lath and plaster, rewiring, and wall repair to others like these:

• Holes drilled in floors to pass wires through
• Wires running along exterior walls before entering the home
• Wires stapled to interior walls
• Surface mounted raceways hiding wires
• Crown moldings and chair railings hiding wires
• Wires run beneath carpets and area rugs
• Wires “fished” through insulation within walls

Given a challenging installation environment all these solutions solve the immediate problem of cable routing and, in some cases, hiding wires that deliver the home entertainment experience we so desire.

If you’re fortunate to live in a home that has permanent “structured wiring” for today’s electronics, security, and data systems, you enjoy seamless connectivity and ease when it comes to adding new consumer electronics. That is, of course, until you find yourself adding a new gadget where one was not planned or, perhaps, when making the inevitable upgrade to the structured wiring driven by the latest “gotta have” gear. Technology does not stand still.



An Emerging Challenge for Homeowners

When designing, building new, or remodeling, focus has shifted toward pragmatic long-term value with less emphasis on cosmetics. Spaciousness is taking a back seat to efficient use of smaller spaces providing more value and utility per cubic foot. An example of this is heightened interest in design for energy conservation. Building smaller to minimize energy required plus the use of highly efficient systems to manage the inside environment. By taking a conservational approach, homeowners see benefit in permanently reduced HVAC costs with low annual maintenance and operational expenses. Occupants experience the intangible perks of living a less cluttered life while society benefits through cumulative reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and delayed climate change. The trend is to simplify and focus on qualitative rather than accumulative living.

Compared to traditional HVAC methods, homeowners opt for new approaches like geothermal heating. The initial cost for such technology is higher with investment justified by weighing installed cost against permanent reductions in energy consumption (30 to 40% more efficient) and reduced annual operating expense.

The Gap

Energy conserving homes use modern forms of insulation like expanding Polyurethane sprayfoam. This material is sprayed into the open wall cavities during construction where it rapidly expands, filling all voids and adhering to all surfaces leaving little opportunity for energy-sapping air infiltration. Unlike traditional forms of insulation, sprayfoams do not degrade or sag with time so their benefits are lasting. The new materials perform well at what they were engineered for but inadvertently add hurdles for future wiring upgrades. When first occupying a space this is not obvious, but it becomes so as the first change is required. “Fishing” wires through tight insulation is time consuming, costly and destructive. A real gap exists between how we design and build and how prepared the homes are to change with the times.

How We Bridge the Gap

Homes are built to stand the test of time, consumer electronics come and go. Knowing this, why do we permanently embed wires within walls? Doing so ignores the likelihood that change will occur well within the lifespan of the structure.

Our aim, at Homepath Products, is to bridge this divide with eXapath. This in-wall system complements best insulation practices while leaving accessible pathways for easy changes to wiring. With it, homeowners can wire where necessary today while leaving the frame of their home ready for change.

Broadband, once a luxury, is now indispensable. The data rates of today’s broadband are the Dial-Up of tomorrow. Technology moves forward at a blistering pace and dramatically faster speeds are being driven to us through our internet providers. The faster they get, the richer our experience becomes, the more frequent we upgrade home systems to support them.

Not only is the eXapath system a breeze to install during construction, it’s equally helpful long after the drywall is up. Unlike traditional conduit systems, eXapath can be located through the drywall using a common stud stud finder. The design lends itself to the addition of new outlets from floor to ceiling without destroying walls, disrupting insulation, or fishing through tight spaces. Providing pathways ensures that the insulation envelope of the home remains intact and efficient for the life of the home. Simple but revolutionary.

If you are building, considering a deep energy retrofit, or major remodel where you will be opening the walls, add eXapath while there and build flexibility for change into your home, value for you to enjoy and pay forward to the next owner.

Does your home bridge the gap?

PR: wait...  I: wait...  L: wait...  LD: wait...  I: wait... wait...  Rank: wait...  Traffic: wait...  Price: wait...  C: wait...

Dealing with Risks (or "What Eeyore Can Teach Us About Sustainability")

For today’s post we touch on the legal environment surrounding sustainable or “green” construction. With any building project, large or small, the law holds a prominent and important place helping define roles for all parties to contracts, clarifying expectations, minimizing risk of disagreement and, finally, serving to help resolve disputes when they do occur.


As society shifts toward environmentally responsible architecture the promise of energy savings, optimized water management, and improved environmental quality become significant in both meaning and implementation. Traditional legal precedents may no longer apply or may fail to recognize the nuances of this important emerging market. Change, in the legal sense, may lead to unforeseen confusion.


I’ve asked a friend and noted construction law attorney, Christopher Hill, to provide a layperson's perspective on the matter. Chris is nationally respected in legal circles and adds value as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional. For those unfamiliar with the LEED AP designation, accreditation requires deep understanding of sustainable design as defined by the US Green Building Council (USGBC). Chris is serious about sustainability and assumes leadership with the emergence of “green” in law. He’s also an entertaining writer. Please enjoy the post:

I am a great believer in sustainable building and the benefits (both economic and environmental) that will come with a more universal adoption of sustainable, more resource friendly, building practices. However, and as I’ve said at Musings before, Eeyore is one of my favorite characters from A.A. Milne.  Eeyore, you may remember, is the donkey on whom it’s always raining.  He is the loveable character that always feels like the sky is falling, but plugs along anyway.

I can relate. I think that the economic impact, combined with the moral imperative, make such a goal both worthy and required.  However, certain risks are inherent in any new use of technologies and any new mode of thinking, no matter how worthy.   Some of the issues that will need to be dealt with by contractors, architects, owners and, yes, lawyers, are the following:

• Insurance- the insurance industry is still catching up with energy related underwriting
• What standard of care applies to a green building claim?
• Potential Trademark claims
• Longer time horizons and contractual or government requirements on energy goals
• Even the possibility of a broken window.
• Zoning

While I sometimes feel like we are rushing past these issues without the careful thought that we need to give such risks in our (understandable) enthusiasm and that it is human nature to be overtaken with excitement at a new venture and the vision of a better, cleaner, world, I am cautiously optimistic that these issues will be hammered out (hopefully through contract rather than litigation).  More and more attorneys and building professionals like Mike (@eXapath) are aware of the potential risks, and this is a great start.

The sooner the risks are at least out in the open, if not resolved, the sooner the private sector will get fully behind sustainable construction and building management. Awareness of the issues is more than half the battle.  From this awareness will come solutions.  I fully believe that these solutions will lead to a better built environment and to contractors and subcontractors that no longer find sustainability to be a novelty, but the normal practice.

My hope is that by pulling back on the reins a bit and hopefully forcing a discussion of these issues, I (and my alter ego that down in the dumps donkey) will help lead to a more robust, and less legally risky, building landscape.

Until then, Eeyore and I will keep plugging through the rain.

Christopher Hill is a LEED AP and construction lawyer in Richmond, VA.  He is a member of Virginia’s Legal Elite in Construction Law and authors the Construction Law Musings blog.  You can also follow him on Twitter at  @constructionlaw.

Part 3: Staggering, Remarkable, Stupendous!

Well, admittedly, it’s not cold fusion, perpetual motion, or antigravity...but this experiment has been worthwhile for the kids and also for Homepath Products.  We’re pleased with results and they confirm our beliefs.

The experiment we’re running with the help of the kids delivered some interesting information...and an opportunity to learn more with further study.

For background on this project see the earlier posts, Part 1 and Part 2. The investigation answers an important customer question about how eXapath affects the energy conserving qualities of insulated walls.


Specifically - ”If that thing (eXapath) is in my wall displacing some insulation, what affect does it have on energy conservation?”

As described in the earlier posts, our test chamber sits outdoors and was designed to create a large temperature gradient between the warmth contained and the cooler outside air. Using a fully insulated cube (Demilec SEALECTION™ Agribalance sprayfoam insulation provided by USInsulation) with an incandescent light bulb as a heat source, we installed the eXapath™ in-wall cable pathway system within one wall and minimized air infiltration with commonly available firestopping caulk and putty. Doing so emulates a typical home installation (see photo), allowing us to determine the affect the eXapath system has on a fully insulated exterior wall.

Once the chamber was built and checked to ensure that everything worked properly, we set it outside, allowed it to stabilize, and began to examine how the system reacted with direct exposure to the cold New England weather. Given that insulation serves only to slow down the process of heat transfer we knew that all surfaces would allow some level of heat energy to escape. We predicted that the various materials making up the walls would generate unique surface temperature profiles and the experiment sets out to demonstrate that. To determine the differences we devised a method for logging the surface temperature for three distinct locations on the walls for comparison to the outside air temperature:

• Intersection of eXapath, insulation and outer sheathing
• Intersection of insulation and sheathing
• Intersection of 2 x 6” stud and sheathing

For temperature readings we scanned (6:00 AM, 2:00 PM, 10:00 PM) the target areas daily on the outside surface of the chamber using a Ryobi Tek4 Professional Infrared (IR) Thermometer. The data was tabulated in a spreadsheet and compared to the internal and external air temperature as shown in the chart below.

Through the first four weeks of testing (tests ongoing) the internal temperature fluctuated between 75.3 and 102.5 ℉. The blue line on the chart shows the internal temperature.

During the same period the outside air temperature ranged from a low of 6.0 ℉ to a high of 53.9 ℉. The 100 Watt incandescent light bulb allowed us to drive a consistent level of energy into the test chamber and served to convert that electricity to heat. Consistent heat generation allowed the chamber itself to react to the external temperature...isolating insulation performance to the outside air temperature only. The large difference between the internal and external temperatures provided the strong temperature gradient necessary to force heat transfer to occur between the warm interior and the cool exterior.

The Bottom Line

As anticipated, all surface temperatures remained near to but slightly higher than the outside air temperature. It is hard to discern because the readings were all very close, but the lower line on the chart displays:

• Outside air temperature
• Surface temperature where eXapath, insulation, and sheathing intersect
• Surface temperature where insulation and sheathing intersect
• Surface temperature where 2 x 6” stud and sheathing intersect

The bottom lines, literally, show that the section of wall where the insulation displacing eXapath system is installed performs as well as sections of wall completely filled with insulation. This confirms the hypothesis that installing the eXapath system in the exterior walls of a sprayfoam insulated structure is not detrimental to the energy conservation of the structure itself. Slight variation was shown by each material but temperature profiles of each construction material combination were very close...almost indistinguishable graphically.


A Closer Look at the Data

To assess the relative performance of the various building material combinations we sorted the data table by outside temperature in descending order. Doing so helped to reveal the performance trends more clearly. After that, we compared the variance between the external temperature and the various building material combinations...this step amplified the reported results revealing a bit more about how each material fared relative to the others under test. In essence, the outside temperature records become a reference line (zero) and the temperature difference for all other materials is plotted against the external temperature to highlight performance differences.

The main finding with the second chart is that temperature variance, compared to external air temperature, falls largely above the blue reference line...slightly higher temperature than the outside air. This is what we expected to see given the large temperature gradient between inside and outside the chamber. In cases where the surface temperatures fell below the blue reference line there is a strong correlation to rising outside temperatures....in these instances we believe the temperature changes of the construction materials lagged behind the more rapidly rising outside air temperature.

The interesting point, and the primary purpose for running this test, is that the eXapath system shows no real performance degradation despite displacing some of the insulation within the wall.

Questions Remain

It should be noted that IR thermometers offer an accuracy of ± 1.5% compared to the actual reading. In addition, the operating range for the thermometer itself ranges from 30 to 122℉. While making measurements, care was taken to keep the temperature of the IR thermometer within the operating range recommended by the manufacturer to maximize accuracy.

The Experiment Continues

To confirm the trends revealed in the experiment and support the findings of the IR thermometer we are extending the experiment to verify our findings.

While having an energy audit performed at our site we asked Chris Rhodes of Right Angle Home Inspections, a Building Analyst certified by The Building Performance Institute (BPI) and certified Level 1 Thermographer, to use her FLIR B-360 Infrared Thermography Camera to evaluate the test chamber. Our hope was to create visual identification of thermal bridging occurring through the test wall of the chamber in order to show differences between building material combinations,

The photo to the right is an infrared image of the test chamber that reveals "hot spots" or areas where heat energy is leaking out of the chamber. For clarity we've labeled the positions where the eXapath system is installed, where only insulation exists, and where a 2 x 6" stud intersects with the outer plywood sheathing. This image confirms our findings.

The three small purple patches indicate the position of digital temperature sensors we've added for phase 2 of the experiment. In phase 2 we hope to generate more detailed information to gain a more precise understanding of the differences between each building material combination.

So the experiment continues...after our "furnace" burned out the kids and I peeled caulk from around the cover seam and removed the heavy lid...it provided the curious sensation of opening a sarcophagus. We added a new 100 Watt light bulb, replaced and resealed the cover, and are ready for phase 2 readings.

Please check back with us for more updates soon.

Part 2: Kids Don't Suffer Self Imposed Limits - We Can Learn From Them

This is part 2 of a series addressing the great questions customers ask.

As mentioned in an earlier post, we view this investigation as a unique way to bring science out of the classroom and into the real world. A way to engage the creative minds of our kids in a practical exercise that reinforces what they are learning in school while we answer a question that our customers have.

Whoa! Did You Say Hollow?

”If that thing is in my wall displacing some insulation, what affect does it have on energy conservation?”

The short answer is that the eXapath in-wall cable pathway system does not present a problem with energy conservation...but it’s a complex question that deserves thorough investigation and a complete response. Getting to that answer is, well, a science project in heat transfer, an adventure into the second law of thermodynamics.

Our Investigation

We assembled the gang, discussed the main question, and then probed more deeply, encouraging the kids to think of approaches to investigating the affect of the eXapath system on energy conservation.

The kids learned about home design and construction. We discussed framing, sheathing and all the stuff hidden in walls. Namely - insulation, drywall, vapor barriers, siding, wiring, pipes, vents, etc. We then discussed various heating systems  and how insulation helps slow down the process of heat transfer from warm to cold...inside to outside during the cold winter months. To make it official I uttered “the second law of thermodynamics” one time only, noticed the kids eyes rolling, and reverted to energy conservation and the importance of efficiency in homes.

Much of the discussion revolved around insulation and how it takes advantage of the thermal properties of air to slow down heat transfer. We showed the kids several types of insulation including fiberglass batting, cellulose, and a relatively new form called sprayfoam. For our project we selected sprayfoam for its unique ability, when applied, to find its way into all cracks and voids that might otherwise allow air infiltration. The foam cures in minutes while trapping air and offers high R value (resistance to heat transfer). For this experiment we needed to emulate insulation in a full scale home so we contacted local insulation experts for advice.

Air that is moving or circulating is ineffective as insulation but “trapped”, “still”, or “dead” air offers good insulation. A key goal in construction and weatherization is to minimize air exchange or infiltration. With eXapath, the preferred installation includes firestopping caulk where the system penetrates the shoe or plate of a wall. In addition, the exposed eXapath pipe is blocked with a cap or pliable firestopping putty.  An unintended benefit of firestopping is the creation of a closed system containing still air...a good insulator.

How Good is Good?

To answer the question of how the eXapath system affects an insulated wall we needed a way to control some variables and isolate the effect of the eXapath system. We turned to the kids for their ideas and were enlightened by their grasp of the complex variables involved...they truly see no limits.

The kids envisioned building an estate tricked-out with geothermal HVAC, solar photovoltaic electricity, wind power, abnormally thick walls to hold more insulation, a heated pool, horses, lots of horses...and a piranha infested moat.

I did my best to explain that their ideas were terrific but slightly beyond the scope of our plan and budget. After negotiating a bit we settled for an insulated 5 foot cube with 2 x 6” walls, floor and cover. For a heat source we opted out of geothermal and chose a top-of-the-line 100 Watt incandescent light bulb powered by mundane but readily available AC electricity. The idea is to create a strong thermal gradient between the warm internal temperature and the cooler outside air. We anticipated that the “system” would constantly fight to reach equilibrium as outside temperatures fluctuated and that by checking the temperature along the wall precisely where the eXapath was installed we would learn more about the affect of eXapath on energy conservation. In addition, using traditional framing, we could collect additional data from a wall section backed by only insulation and where a 2 x 6” stud met the sheathing. Doing so should allow us to compare traditional construction methods with those using the modern eXapath system.

Building the Chamber

All walls, floor and cover are modular and built by Bogaert Construction using 2x6” framing materials with 1/2” CDX sheathing. Local experts from USInsulation filled the modular wall cavities with 5 1/2 inches of Demilec Sealection Agrilbalance®, a 3/4 pound semi-rigid sprayfoam.

The six components (walls, floor, cover) were then assembled by the Homepath Products team, kids included.

We added the light bulb and installed an internal temperature sensor. After giving the system a dry-run to test the heat source and internal temperature sensor we sealed all internal joints with Great Stuff™. To minimize convection we added HILTI CP-618 firestopping putty to plug the exposed pipe of the eXapath system and then sealed all external seams with silicone caulking.

What We Expect to Find

For data collection and to allow meaningful comparison we plan to use a number of temperature sensors. One is housed inside the chamber to keep tabs on the internal temp and to verify that the heat source is still functioning. We also plan to monitor the outside air temperature. Ideally, the skin of the chamber should equal that of the outside air temperature, indicating that the insulation is 100% effective in conserving energy. The second law of thermodynamics tells us that heat transfer can never be stopped, only slowed down.

Therefore we expect readings from the skin of the chamber to be slightly higher than the outside air temperature. This will confirm that some heat is escaping through the materials within the walls. For external readings we plan to use an Infrared (IR) thermometer to monitor target markings for the wall section where eXapath, insulation only, and a 2 x 6” stud are located. The chamber itself is oriented so that the target wall faces north away from direct exposure to sunlight...this minimizes solar radiation as a variable in raising the skin temperature.

After the initial shakedown we moved the chamber outside into the cold New England elements and allowed it to stabilize for forty-eight hours. Once stablized we began logging temperature readings.

The testing is underway, please check part 3 of this series for interim results.

Part 1: Customers Ask Great Questions

Thoughts on jobs, kids, innovation, entrepreneurship...and our approach to economic recovery.


While writing this post I stumbled across a New York Times article written by Op-ed Columnist Thomas L. Friedman entitled “More (Steve) Jobs, Jobs, Jobs”. The piece resonated, inspiring me to take a short detour and disclose a bit more about what we’re up to at Homepath Products.

Friedman discussed federal policy-making concerning job creation through innovation. Paraphrasing, he suggests that the current administration should bolster job creation by stimulating our youth through creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. “What the country needs most now is not more government stimulus, but more stimulation. We need to get millions of American kids, not just the geniuses, excited about innovation and entrepreneurship again. We need to make 2010 what Obama should have made 2009: the year of innovation, the year of making our pie bigger, the year of ‘Start-Up America.’”

Friedman continues “to reignite his youth movement, he [President Obama] should make sure every American kid knows about two programs that he has already endorsed: The first is National Lab Day. Introduced last November by a coalition of educators and science and engineering associations, Lab Day aims to inspire a wave of future innovators, by pairing veteran scientists and engineers with students in grades K-12 to inspire thousands of hands-on science projects around the country...The president should also vow to bring the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, or NFTE, to every low-income neighborhood in America. NFTE works with middle- and high-school teachers to help them teach entrepreneurship. The centerpiece of its program is a national contest for startups with 24,000 kids participating. Each student has to invent a product or service, write up a business plan and then do it.”
 
In general I agree with Friedman. More innovation begets opportunity for success; more success stimulates innovation, in turn, growing the pie and fueling economic expansion. He presents some well conceived ideas echoing an industrial era economist named Joseph Schumpeter who espoused “creative destruction” and focused on the importance of entrepreneurs to strong economies. Friedman adds a noteworthy twist...that is to nourish the innovation and entrepreneurship process through exposure during youth.  I find this compelling and believe it may help sidestep the tendency toward risk aversion that sets in with age. This notion parallels what we’re doing in our own small way here at Homepath Products.

For many reasons I traded in the security of corporate America to pursue this new venture called Homepath Products. One (of many) important goals was to spend more time with family. For years I noticed opportunities slipping away while I focused on career, a universal dilemma faced by all parents and those with aging forebears...a challenge with few good answers...part of life.

At Homepath Products we innovate, we experiment, we teach, we are a startup and our kids play a vital role in what we do and, perhaps more importantly, why we do it.

Reflecting on Friedman’s assertion that youth should be energized to nurture creativity and become entrepreneurial consider the following. Our kids also need opportunity to grasp the interconnected nature of things and events, to learn risk taking, and to become aware that they have a voice in matters seemingly beyond their sphere of influence...beneficial lessons for adulthood.

Many regular readers of this blog know that Homepath Products recently introduced the eXapath™ in-wall cable pathway system. With this innovation we aim to improve how homes are designed and built, complementing energy conservation while preparing the structure itself to change as consumer electronics evolve. Not an easy task when wires within walls compete for the same space as insulation.

To see where kids come into the picture you must first understand the product.

Energy Conservation and Upgradeability

One of the many features of eXapath is that, once installed and hidden by drywall, it can be located using a common density-based stud finder. This benefits the home or building owner by enabling the addition of outlets from floor to ceiling. After generations of occupancy the structure remains prepared to adapt when new consumer electronics come to market...without disrupting the insulation envelope.

In shallow inside 2x4” framing, outlets can be added from either side of the wall, in effect serving two rooms. Great for speaker wiring, HDTV, Mirror/TV’s, computer wiring, automation, that sort of stuff.

With deeper outside walls important questions come to light. Today, most exterior walls are built using 2x6” construction. The wall cavities are then completely filled with insulation, except where studs, wires, waste pipes, and electrical boxes reside.

Picturing the installation in an exterior wall, eXapath sits toward the inside of the cavity, in direct contact with drywall. Viewing the system from above note that eXapath has an “H” shape to accommodate our unique snap-in outlets.

With a footprint of 3 3/8” square, 2 to 3 inches of space is provided for insulation. Once installed, eXapath becomes a permanent hollow pathway for low voltage cables enabling moves, adds or upgrades at any time.


Whoa! Did You Say Hollow?

This is a good example of the great questions customers ask...and how they are asked: 

”If that thing is in my wall displacing some insulation, what affect does it have on energy conservation?”

The short answer is that eXapath does not present a problem with energy conservation...but it’s a complex question that deserves thorough investigation and a more complete response. Getting to that answer is, well, a science project in heat transfer. A look into the second law of thermodynamics. So, we asked ourselves, in addition to a complete answer, what other benefit can come from this investigation?

Aligning with personal goals the question presents an opportunity for us to bring science out of the class room and into the real world. We’re asking our kids to participate in the exercise in order to help bring practice to much of what they learn in school. We’re involving them in problem definition, design of experiment, measurement, data collection, and analysis. With exposure to an academic project with real world implications, we hope the kids will appreciate that their studies do ultimately prepare them for bigger things. In this case we tie the learning to commonly discussed ideas like energy conservation and sustainability. The students vary in age and academic level but all study the basics including mathematics, global studies, earth science, language arts, etc. They’re actively learning of our interconnected world and often work with abstract problems in homework assignments. Their school teachers bring practice to lessons while reinforcing major points and we hope this magnifies their effort while adding more fun and meaning to the process.

Get ready kids!

Please checkout Part 2 of this series: Kids Don’t Suffer Self-Imposed Limits - We Can Learn From Them

For interim results, skip directly to Part 3: Staggering, Remarkable, Stupendous!

Change...Why Fight it When You Can Master It?

Stuff

Let’s face it, we acquire plenty of stuff. As we amass belongings the value seems obvious. Once gathering dust, its relevance diminishes. It just happens. Making the time to organize, donate, sell, recycle or otherwise dispose of it takes effort...and the activity always seems timed precisely with more pressing issues...like yard work or filling out tax forms. So it grows...leading to “need” for larger spaces. If you really think about the “stuff” we collect, and assess it from a needs versus wants standpoint...much of the “stuff” offers little value. Once we have unnecessary stuff, the dilemma of disposal enters. Clutter. Why start?

Like tropical fish, our footprint grows to the size of the aquarium we swim in...or something like that. I’m not suggesting that we live in confinement but I do recommend that, when planning our spaces, a thorough review of needs is more sensible than defaulting to anticipated overspill.

While You're In There...

Nascent opportunities for architects, builders and remodelers

Sustainability. Hard to define...easy to toss around in conversation.

I’m actively learning about sustainability. As I delve in, what becomes clear to me, is that I know a fair amount...but my proficiency pales in comparison to what remains for me to learn. Do you know this feeling?

Bits, Bytes, and Speed...Whoop-de-doo!

10Gb/s to start...scalable to 100Gb/s, so what?!

In this age, it seems we’re drawn into a world of digi-speak, constantly inundated with impressive sounding jargon that can leave us baffled. Couple this with sustainability, and the subject matter quickly overwhelms.

In a recent post, I marveled at the notion of using fiber optics within the home. Intel’s announcement about its “Light Peak” technology buoyed a significant market buzz.

Their claim of a 10 Gigabit per second (Gb/s) data rate is surely impressive...and technically achievable...

...but what does this really mean for us consumers?

Intel's "Light Peak" and You

Imagine downloading a full length, high definition 3D feature film in several seconds. Picture an entire music library transferred, all of your home’s HD videos exchanged, or a complete hard drive backed up to a remote and safe location . . . instantly. We are heading in that direction, and it will happen well within the life expectancy of most homes being built today.

To some these claims may seem outlandish, but remember how, just a few short years ago, you marveled at your first low-resolution digital camera, and the space-aged ability to save photographs electronically . . . easily sharing them with friends by way of mailed CDs.

Fiber in the Home?

Kudos to Intel for planning beyond next week . . . and for thinking big. To see what I am talking about click here: ”Light Peak to Connect Consumer Devices at Record Speed”

The recent announcement of Intel “Light Peak” technology refers to an optical fiber that is 125 µm (microns) wide, roughly the thickness of a human hair. This notion of using strands of glass to route high speed signals within your home may impress, or . . . it may panic you.