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When we come into the office each morning there is a ritual we follow to get ready for the day. We turn off the alarm, unlock the front door, turn on the lights (12 different switches), adjust the draperies, turn on the compressor and vacumn, turn on each dental unit, turn on the X-Ray units, boot the computers (8 of them), turn on the sound system, turn on the TV showing Smile Channel, and of course start the coffee.

Then when we close up we do it all again the other way around.

It is now possible to do all of these tasks with a single touch of a control panel.

There were many companies showing home controls at CES. These controls are growing rapidly as a new standard Zwave makes it possible to use wireless controls in a wide variety of uses. Although the CES vendors were showing home use the same technology could easily be adapted to a small office.

Why use wireless controls? The most obvious advantage is that it saves time. The second advantage is that it is always consistent. You will never have to worry about things left on over the weekend. I believe that in a typical office these controls will easily save 30 minutes a day. 15 to open and 15 to close. At $15 an hour and working 192 days a year the savings will be $1,440 a year.

And besides the savings it is really cool!