2020 Lighting & Homes for Tomorrow Connected Home Competition Winners Announced

Middleton, MA December 7, 2020 — The Lighting & Homes for Tomorrow (LHFT) competition awards nine connected home products and platforms that deliver a compelling value proposition to both consumers and utilities. To realize the CEE Integrated Home vision, Lighting & Homes for Tomorrow is designed to help drive the adoption of efficient, connected products that demonstrate interoperability, reliability, and simplicity. In 2020, the competition sought residential connected lighting, lighting controls, ceiling fans, connected plug load controls, connected heating and cooling (HVAC) and thermostats, connected windows and window attachments, and other connected home devices that successfully deliver a positive consumer experience, energy management, and grid benefit.

Of the 44 products entered, 31 were selected to be evaluated by a panel of expert judges including individuals with proficiency in usability, interoperability, the connected home, IDSM program administration, product installation, specific technology performance, sales, and design.

The 2020 judging panel met during the week of October 12 to participate in a live remote viewing of products installed at the UL facility in Allentown, PA. The judges considered details about product installation and carefully observed the entries’ operation and user interfaces. They were pleased to see a variety of high-quality residential products successfully incorporate connected functionality that enable comfort, convenience, and energy savings for consumers.

• Of the connected lighting, controls, and ceiling fan products, the judges identified three winners; Acuity Brands Lighting Juno AI, C by GE Smart Switch Dimming + Motion Sensing, and Modern Forms for their Renegade and Tip-Top Smart Fans.
• Hunter Douglas Duette Architella Calypso Honeycomb Shade was selected as the winner for window attachments.
• For heating and cooling, the Judges awarded ecobee SmartThermostat with Voice Control as the overall thermostat winner, Sinopé Technologies Inc. smart thermostat as the winner for electric line voltage heating, and Flair Puck Pro as the winner for a mini split system.
• The judges also designated Aquanta Smart Water Heater Controller as a winner and gave special recognition for utility offering for consumers to the Powerley Smart Home Energy Management.

Lighting & Homes for Tomorrow would also like to recognize five manufacturers that demonstrated promising features and thoughtful connected product design across several of the evaluation criteria and were subsequently selected as finalists: Renson Inc., American Lighting, Cordelia Lighting, Allied Air Enterprises, and Somfy Systems, Inc.

These products will be recognized at relevant industry events including the AERC Virtual Fall Meeting on November 19, the HARDI Virtual Summit December 7-9, and Lightovation in January 2021. The award-winning products will also be showcased in a brochure and on the Lighting & Homes for Tomorrow website in late December, as well as promoted by some CEE member energy efficiency program administrators in local offerings. To access complete details on the competition, please visit the website at www.lightingfortomorrow.com.