Long winters and hot summers can prompt concern about utility bills and the money left in our wallets. Nest Labs discovered a way to incorporate both savings and temperature comfort in the world’s first learning thermostat — and Vectren has backed this up with research.
Adapting to changes and programming itself based on a schedule, the Nest Thermostat learns an owner’s heating and cooling habits. Within the first week of installing the Nest Thermostat, it remembers your temperature routine, whether toasty in the afternoon or cool before heading to bed.
The Nest Thermostat also has an Auto-Away feature, sensing when a person leaves the house and automatically lowering the temperature.
The intuitive thermostat comes with an app, enabling the Nest to be adjusted from anywhere with your phone. The app also allows users to check the temperature, change settings, and put the Nest in and out of Away mode.
When energy is being used efficiently, the Nest Leaf will appear, indicating smart energy-saving behavior. In February, Vectren concluded research assessing the energy savings of the intuitive thermostat and found homes with a Nest Thermostat had an average natural gas savings of 69 therms per year, equal to 12.5 percent of the heating use.
“There is extremely limited data on new thermostats and the technology that goes into them, which is why we conducted this research,” says Natalie Hedde, director of corporate communications at Vectren.
For more information about the Nest Thermostat, visit nest.com.
