The EMerge standard, if adopted, will mean an improvement in the efficiency of the way electricity is consumed and distributed in buildings. The standard favors direct current (DC) over typical alternating current (AC) when it comes to DC-loving devices like LEDs, sensors, actuators and the like.

And best of all this technology does not need the rewiring of every building in order to be implemented. It can easily be adopted in any building through forming a hybrid layer within the building by electrifying ceilings, walls and floors with low-voltage direct currents. The type of power running through these ceilings and walls would be Class 2 as defined by the North American standard, so low that you wouldn’t ever feel it unless you’d be touching the ceiling or walls with your tongue.

Coupled with on-site alternative energy sources like solar power, this will prove to be a truly environmentally friendly and efficient solution, it will even allow the free movement of lighting or sensor devices along the ceiling or walls without the need for rewiring.

Once the standards are developed and in place, it is expected that products utilizing it will quickly be designed and manufactured.

Safety issues regarding the technology are being explored as the electrified ceiling idea is already being tested in facilities across the USA. But once the standards are in place, as early as 2009 for low-voltage DC systems, it will be just a matter of time before the green building industry will adopt the idea.

Via Treehugger and Emerge Alliance