Smart Home: Green + Wired Powered by ComEd Reopens

Exhibit at Museum of Science and Industry showcases ComEd’s environmental programs

CHICAGO, March 19 /PRNewswire/ — ComEd is once again sponsoring the Smart Home: Green + Wired, Powered by ComEd exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. The Smart Home showcases ComEd’s electricity-saving programs for customers and other ways to practice green living. The exhibit is open today through Jan. 3, 2010.

The Smart Home demonstrates the latest in sustainable living and environmentally friendly technologies and offers Museum patrons simple, sensible ways to incorporate green living into their lifestyle. Guests will take tours of the 2,500-square-foot, modular and contemporary home, located on the east side of the Museum.

The home’s update for 2009 includes a space-maximizing hallway office, a “green” baby nursery, earth-friendly and city-friendly landscaping, a bold color scheme, new furniture, cutting-edge technologies, and much more. As before, guests are able to view and hear about the latest improvements in reusable resources and smart energy consumption. Visitors also will learn about easy and innovative ways to go green – how storm water runoff can be collected for landscape irrigation, how toilets can be equipped to use waste water from the shower and bath, how spray-in foam insulation can create a completely sealed structure – to result in improved air quality, increased energy efficiency, and reduced costs.

In summer 2009, Smart Home will add a Skystream wind turbine that provides an alternative energy source for the home, and Chicago should have no problem supplying earth-friendly energy to the Smart Home. The turbine and the home’s solar panels allow the Smart Home to be a part of ComEd’s Net Metering program, which allows customers to receive credit for the excess electricity produced by the renewable energy sources.

“ComEd is proud to once again partner with the Museum of Science and Industry and return as the lead sponsor of this innovative exhibit,” said Anne Pramaggiore, executive vice president, Customer Operations, Regulatory, and External Affairs, ComEd. “By demonstrating some of our ‘green’ programs at the Smart Home, we can educate our customers about new ways to save money and decrease their carbon footprints by integrating energy efficiency into their everyday lives.”

The Smart Home originally opened last year, welcoming more than 100,000 guests from May 2008 through January 2009. Guided tours showcased the myriad ways people can make eco-friendly living a part of their lives. During that time, the Smart Home - designed by Michelle Kaufmann Designs(TM) and built by All American Homes(R) – was given the designation “Chicago’s Greenest Home” after a comprehensive review of the home’s plans, materials, and design by the City of Chicago’s Chicago Green Homes program.

ComEd environmental programs featured in the Smart Home:

– Smart Ideas for Your Home Residential Real Time Pricing

Smart Home is smart about how it uses electricity. Through a program called Real Time Pricing, ComEd offers the Smart Home and all ComEd customers the option to be billed for the electricity used based on hourly wholesale market prices instead of fixed rates. This enables customers to choose to make adjustments in their electricity usage based on the hourly prices. If a customer can shift the use of energy-hungry appliances like air conditioners, laundry machines, and dishwashers to low-price times of day – like evenings, nights and mornings – they could make a difference in their electricity costs. In addition, when customers reduce their usage, power plants don’t have to produce as much electricity, which prevents emissions linked to global climate change. To learn more about the program, visit theWattSpot.com or call 888-806-2273.

People buying electricity based on hourly wholesale market prices instead of fixed rates through ComEd’s Real Time Pricing program have access to hourly pricing information via thewattspot.com Web site shown on the computer screen. This Web site puts customers in control of their energy costs enabling customers to choose to make adjustments in their electricity usage based on the hourly prices.

– Net Metering

The Smart Home‘s solar panels and soon-to-come wind turbine lend themselves to ComEd’s Net Metering program. Net metering is a program available for homes or businesses with their own renewable energy source, such as solar panels or wind turbines. With net metering, customers receive credit for the excess electricity produced by the solar panels or wind turbines. To learn more, visit the “Net Metering” and “Self-Generated Power” sections of www.ComEd.com.

– Smart Ideas for Your Home ENERGY STAR(R) Lighting

Each CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulb uses about 75 percent less energy than a traditional incandescent light bulb, lasts up to 10 times longer, and could save you up to $72 in energy costs over its lifetime. ComEd’s Smart Ideas for Your Home is providing discounts on ENERGY STAR qualified CFL bulbs and fixtures at major retailers throughout northern Illinois. Visit www.ComEd.com for a list of participating retailers, or call 888-806-2273.

From May 1 to 14, ComEd customers who purchase one regularly priced ticket will receive one ticket free. The same offer applies from October 1 to 14. See ComEd.com for details.

ComEd offers a variety of options to help customers reduce electricity usage, manage bills, and protect the environment. Visit www.ComEd.com for tips to make your home more environmentally friendly and energy efficient.

Find more information and purchase your Smart Home: Green + Wired, Powered by ComEd tickets at www.msichicago.org. Tickets are not included in the Museum’s general admission and require an additional timed-entry ticket. Smart Home tickets, which include general Museum admission, are $23 for adults, $22 for seniors and $14 for children 3 to 11. Tour times vary and are subject to change. Check the Museum’s Web site for more details.

Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), one of the nation’s largest electric utilities with approximately 5.4 million customers. ComEd provides service to approximately 3.8 million customers across Northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state’s population.

About the Museum of Science and Industry

The Museum of Science and Industry’s mission is to inspire the inventive genius in everyone by presenting captivating and compelling experiences that are real and educational. The Museum first opened its doors on June 19, 1933. In 2008–more than 175 million guests later–the Museum commemorates its 75th Anniversary with a year-long celebration. Located at 57th Street and Lake Shore Drive, the Museum is open every day of the year except December 25. Regular Museum hours are 9:30 a.m. until 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Sunday. Extended summer hours, until 5:30 p.m. each day, will be offered from May 24 to Sept. 1. The Museum offers indoor parking and is accessible by CTA and Metra. The Museum is supported in part through the generosity of the people of Chicago through the Chicago Park District. For more information, visit the Museum’s Web site at www.msichicago.org or call (773) 684-1414 or (800) GO-TO-MSI outside of the Chicago area.

SOURCE ComEd