New Thermostat: What is All The Fuss About?
It’s getting cold outside and we’ve been discovering some interesting cold weather tech accessories, like touch screen winter gloves by MUJI. Another new product has also caught our eye is Nest – a very pretty thermostat that has garnered a lot of attention in the press. A thermostat is a great way to keep your energy consumption down – always a tricky balancing act when you work from home.
Nest is said to be as the world’s first learning thermostat, equipped with “smart” features and an attractive design. Here’s why Nest has piqued our interest.
Usability and Design Nest does not require users to mess with a bunch of different settings and punching multiple buttons. You can set the temperature by turning the outer ring. After you have the right temperature, push the ring, it clicks and you’re done.
There’s very little programming when it comes to Nest because of its learning features. You only have to set up the thermostat during your first couple times of use, after that it will learn your daily settings and automatically adhere to them.
Nest also has motion-tracking sensors that detect if people are in a room. If you’re always out on a Friday night, Nest will learn that and automatically switch to an “auto away” setting every Friday.
Energy Conservation According to the New York Times, about half of residential energy consumed is for heating and cooling.
“Each degree cooler a house is kept in a heating season (winter), or warmer in a cooling season (summer), translates to a 5 percent energy saving. So shifting consumption patterns, say, four degrees on average can mean energy savings of 20 percent, experts say. Since the average home spends $1,000 to $1,500 a year on heating and cooling, that would translate to $200 to $300 in lower energy bills. It would also mean fewer power plants built and lower carbon emissions.” – New York Times
Most people get up and adjust the thermostat multiple times a day. Nest solves that problem by adjusting and learning our habits so we don’t forget and leave the thermostat running for hours on end anymore. Nest costs double the price of most thermostats, $249, but according to Tony Fadell, Nest will pay for itself in a year in energy-savings.
By Julienne Lin.
This story appears in partnership with Unplggd, a site for people who embrace technology and design in their home.
We’ve got one that we program for different hours, nights, and weekends. When we want to manually adjust it, we can. Cheaper than the Nest, but you do need to spend about 10 minutes setting it up the first time. Our big energy saver is using a clothesline rather than the dryer in the Summer. I don’t think we had an electric bill higher than $120 even in August with over a month of 100+ degree days.
Daisy
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