The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) in its 9th Annual State of the Builder Technology Market Study finds positive news for home builders exploring broadband connectivity as a selling point in homes.

ASSA ABLOY'S intelligent Power over Ethernet (PoE) and Wi-Fi access control products operate over a facility’s already existing wired and wireless local area network (LAN), to conserve energy consumption, reduce installation costs and provide additional benefits.

Honeywell’s 6280i Tuxedo Touch™ touchscreen highlights the growing trend of residential security systems to become increasingly intertwined with other home systems, including energy management, lighting controls, HVAC, and other “green” opportunities — designed to help homeowners improve comfort while saving money and respecting the earth.

It’s green and small. And someone is going to win the HGTV Green Home after a full-press national campaign that will help educate homeowners on the positives of sustainability. Kemp Hall Studio designed the 2,300-square-foot HGTV Green Home 2012 to look, feel and live like a 4,000-square-foot home.

Most realtors report having encountered homes on the market with installed technologies. What do they think?

Like the closely-linked market for home energy management systems, the smart appliances market has, so far, failed to take off as quickly as some had expected. Many products are still involved in small pilots and have failed to hit retail outlets in any large number. However, shipments will soon begin to pick up and exceed 24 million units by 2017.

Green homes comprised 17 percent of the overall residential construction market in 2011 and are expected to grow to between 29 and 38 percent of the market by 2016. By value, this equates to a five-fold increase, growing from $17 billion in 2011 to $87-$114 billion in 2016, based on the five-year forecast for overall residential construction.

For consumers, the market for home energy management technology and products has, all at once, become highly frenzied yet tremendously exciting. From sleek, standalone ‘smart thermostats’ to solutions tightly integrated with the security system to new broadband-based home energy offerings from large cable and telco providers, consumers must not only decide which tool fits with their particular lifestyle, but which underlying platform offers the most stability and value.

As energy costs continue to rise, consumers are becoming more and more interested in ways to reduce and monitor their energy consumption. This trend presents an enormous opportunity for technology professionals who are already working in the home.

Many electronic system contractors (ESC) often know green as motorized shades, LED lighting and home energy management and monitoring. Courtney Baker sees a bigger green. “These are major areas that the dealer/installer community can affect; but being green is a lot more than just saving energy. It is also about indoor air quality, water efficiency indoor and outdoor, material selection and generally being aware of how [a client’s] home ‘should’ work.”