New System Uses Internet To Tweak Thermostat, Cut Costs

Using communications to save energy costs seems to be a key strategy for a host of new green building products and technologies.   In another post we talked about a new communications protocol being developed just for HVAC gear. Now Cleantech – one of the world’s  largest competition for clean technologies – has picked a winner that uses communications as a means of reducing HVAC costs.

This year’s national winner – EcoFactor – chosen from more than 300 companies — makes a two-way thermostat that uses the internet to gather data to help reduce utility costs.

All day long, EcoFactor goes on line and gathers information about local weather such as humidity and temperature, adds that to information about building usage patterns such as the weather conditions under which occupants set the thermostat up and down.

By gathering as many as 24,000 such data points each day, EcoFactor can tweak your thermostat’s settings to keep you comfortable, but at a 20-30% lower cost.  One example – precooling a house before the owners get home from work to make it more comfortable before peak-demand rates kick in.

There is little doubt that we’ll be seeing more and more of these interactive technologies as time goes by, and, as they become more widespread, they will migrate to commercial and industrial buildings.

Rich Silverman
Goodway Blogging Team

Image Credit:  Leonard G. courtesy of Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons License

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