Museum of Science and Industry

The Smart Home leads a secret double life behind the wood and drywall.

There's a digital nerve center built into the home that works constantly and automatically to save homeowners time, reduce energy consumption and make life more fun.

For the third year, the MSI is partnering with automation and technology advisor WIRED magazine to incorporate "smart" technologies into the home, continuing to focus on energy efficiency and allowing homeowners to make greener choices.

Just a few of of the high-tech innovations you'll see:

• A sophisticated automation system allows homeowners to operate the home’s temperature, lighting and entertainment features from touch-screen panels.
• An energy monitoring system tracks, in real time, the amount of energy being generated by the home’s solar film and 45-foot wind turbine. Homeowners can track their energy consumption and, with an Internet feed of energy pricing, calculate the savings to be gained by adjusting power usage.
• The kitchen countertop can wirelessly power a blender or charge mobile devices.
• An air purifier with a sleek, high-tech look scrubs the indoor atmosphere with a minimum of watts.
• A digital photo frame with a motion sensor can turn itself off when nobody is present.