B. You're going to hear a report about home automation in the future, complete the following list of the benefits of home automation. You can also add things to the list according to what you hear.
Current advances in home automation offer home owners convenience, security, energy savings and a lot of gee-whiz with technology.
With a fully automated home, you'd be able to pick up your phone, call your house and instruct it to disarm the security system, start the spa, turn up the lights and coax classic music from the compact disc player.
While you were at it, you could also open the garage door or set the thermostat to a pleasant 70 degrees.
Sound intriguing? How about lights that turn themselves off when you leave a room?
A stereo that quiets itself when the phone rings? Or appliances that tell you when something is wrong with them?
Although most home automation systems now on the market are expensive and available only in new homes.
Within the next two years, you can expect an explosion of products that transform homes into architectural geniuses.
By all account, the time is right for houses to become smart.
During the last decade, consumers have readily accepted such technological wonders as microwave ovens, fax machines and cellular phones.
Our cars use microprocessors, automated tellers abound, and virtually everyone has access to a personal computer.
The interest in home automation, however, is not born out of a desire to create a space-age home.
It stems from a genuine interest in ways to make houses safe, energy-efficient and more comfortable.
Take security for example. If there is a fire, an automated house will detect it, turn off the gas, close the dampers in the ventilation system, turn on the lights, unlock the doors, set off an alarm and call the fire department.
More advanced systems might even tell you where the fire is, and through which room you should escape.
In the case of an intruder, a triggered motion detector can turn on floodlights in the yard and instruct you stereo to queue up the sound of barking dog..
Or say you want to avoid unwelcome guests. By mounting a video camera at the front door, you can view visitors on a TV screen.
Automated security systems can also detect gas and water leaks, limit home access to specific times of the day and tell you which doors and windows are open when you activate the system.
With Home Manager, one of several automation systems on the market, you can warm up the master bedroom, kitchen and bathroom in the morning before alarm goes off, or you can program it to keep the nursery at a constant temperature.
In midsummer, you can even instruct sensors in the house to open skylights, turn on ceiling fans, and close the draperies when the house reaches a certain temperature.
All of these functions can be controlled while in the house or remotely from a touch-tone phone or computer and modem.
In addition, home automation offers tremendous lifestyle improvements for elderly and disabled people.
For those who cannot push a button or flip a switch, a voice command can be used to activate security cameras, turn up the stereo volume or drop the room temperature a few degrees.
The click of an infrared remote control could turn on the oven, close the blinds or open the door.
So what is home automation, exactly?
In short, it's actually a combination of several things including microprocessors, enhanced power line transmission, computer chips, telephone and cable wiring, infrared sensors and radio frequency waves.
Fortunately, the manufacturers that are developing these automated products understand the consumers don't care how something works as much as they care that it does work and is easy to operate.