4 smart
thermostats that save money and energy
By Katherine Gray, Tecca
Published on usatoday.com
Posted 3h 7m ago, updated 1d 21h ago
Link:http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/story/2012-05-06/smart-thermostats/54750056/1
Summary: 4
brand new types of thermostats have been invented to save the environment. One,
seen in the picture to the left is called “The Nest” is new and improved to
learn the energy and heating usage of your home and make a note in its system
to help save money, and the environment. The thermostat raises or lowers its temperature
or usage gauge when you leave, or when you are in the house. It works with any
type of power source your home uses like solar, gas, geothermal, and heating
oil. Its calibrating system notices if you are home or not and will control the
amount of energy being used in your house. If you want more or less while you
are not at home you can simple override the Nest’s orders from your smart phone
or any internet source. By cutting down on heating and electricity use you are
saving yourself some money and you are helping the environment by not wasting
its fossil fuels and natural resources used for your home.
Opinion: I
think that this is a great tool to use because everyone has smart phones these
days and I know that sometimes when you leave the house you forget to turn the
lights off. This wastes up to 7 or 8 hours of electricity when no one is even
home. This would be a good idea to use if you are not going to be home for a
long time like if you are on vacation. Like in the summer I know that when we
turn off the air right before we leave, it is saving energy, but when we get
home it is super hot in the house. If we had this thermostat we would be able
to turn on the air right before we got home, so we could still save energy, and
not have to worry about the house being uncomfortable.
Questions:
1: What flaws does this thermostat have?
1: What flaws does this thermostat have?
2: Is there any aspect of this idea you would change to make
it better or more efficient?
3: Do you really think it would save energy from all energy
sources like solar, gas, geothermal, and heating oil? Why or why not?
I think this is a great idea. Since it works with all types of electricity sources, like solar, it could encourage people to buy and use those types of energy. Since for many people money is the reason they don't buy solar power, they could simply save up the money they get from using the thermostat and buy some. In the long run, they would probably end up saving money on electricity bills and definitely help save the environment.
ReplyDeleteTo answer question 2, I think that the idea has a lot to improve upon. Like all electronics nowadays, they could make it "smart" so it could change the temperature all by itself and keep the highest efficiency at all times
Reflection: I think that this is a amazing invention because it could help out a lot in money and reducing the usage of energy. I think that when it adjusts its self whenever your at home or not at home is really cool and how that you could just override the system with your smart phone.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: I will be answering number 1 and the flaws for this thermostat I think is that people could override your thermostat with their smart phone and screw up your thermostat.
I think this already exists. My geothermal unit is able to adjust the temperature when we are not home, and can change the temperature when we are approaching home. Verizon is already able to control lights from your smart phone. I think it would save money for just purchasing this, but it isn't new technology.
ReplyDeleteQuestion number 3: I think it would save a lot of all of the listed above resources because you save resources by not using them.
This is pretty cool. Im just wondering how much it would cost to have installed and everything. It would be very usefull for those days when you come home late from work or have to leave early in the morning and forget to turn the air and or lights off, as maddy said. It is good idea for those people who like to save energy and money on heating bills. My dad is one of those people and if its warm outside he likes to open the windows and turn off the ac. But my mom is the other way. If we had this installed he could just turn the air off from work that way my mom would have to open the windows unless she turned it back on.
ReplyDeleteTo answer number 1: This might be a bad idea becuase it can be turned on or off from a mobile divice. Most people will have the urge to turn on the air while on their way home from work. This means that while driving, the driver will have to take out their mobile divice and turn it on/off. This could be a threat to other drivers and as well as be dangerous for the person who is driving and trying to turn on their air conditioning. Otherwise than this, there are not any other flaws that I could think of.
To answer