14 DAY TRIAL // Art is usually something that people refer to as pleasing to one or more of the five senses, but not necessarily practical. You can definitely combine the two, however, and the Start.Home is an example of this.
Start.Home doesn't do a great job of expressing its role through its name alone. You can only guess that it has to do with a home, and that's it.
When you think about it, though, it kind of makes sense, because many pieces of art have names that don't really fit them, at least not at first glance.
We won't try to guess why the creators of the Start.Home chose that moniker, of all things, but at least the role of the thing is straightforward enough.
Basically, it's a way to measure how much energy your roof accumulates, and how efficient your appliances are.
The contraption is akin to a fan, in that it is composed of multiple opposing wooden slats that can fan out or slide together. It's kind of like a flower opens when exposed to sunlight.
For something meant to measure energy consumption of solar panel-based roofs and overall energy use by appliances, it's surprisingly complex and aesthetically sound.
It should be easy enough to integrate the wooden slats in your wall ornaments, especially if your home walls are lined with wood as well.
The more efficient your home installation is, the more the Start.Home fans out like a flower. You even have a section that shows your 12-hour history, among other things.
The video embedded below outlines pretty much every function of the Start.Home. The students from the Stanford University have managed to accomplish everything they set out to do.
And it looks like this understated piece of art that doubles as home energy monitor might become a selling product without crowd-funding.
Very often, the ideas and inventions of students are posted on Kickstarter or Indiegogo in the hopes that the public would find them appealing enough to show their support via financial pledges.
Anyway, the Start.Home should be able to not only liven up your hallway, but also inform you when the home energy and appliance system works best and when it needs improvements.
There is, of course, always the option of just staring at the energy meter of whatever solar panels you buy and install on your rooftop. It's not nearly as homey though, if we do say so ourselves.
