Are You Ready For A NEST? A Smart Thermostat For The Rest Of Us.

Saving energy is on everyone’s mind while the economy is still on the downturn because saving energy saves money.  When I owned a couple of residential technology stores, saving energy was among the top three reasons people spent money with my stores.  So how does simple thermostat like a NEST fit in?

NEST Thermostat in Heat Mode
NEST – Finally An Energy Saving Thermostat that Makes Sense!

The DIY movement in home technology has done some amazing things.  For instance, we used to sell custom all in one remotes for $1000 plus another $350 for programming.  This past Christmas, I gave out some Logitech Harmony Remotes that my family was able to program on their own.  The total cost was less than what we charged for labor alone.  The Logitech Remotes are a part of the phase shift in home technology.

One of my favorite energy saving “toys” might have just been replaced by the NEST.  My last three homes were completely integrated and automated.  What does that mean?  It means the security system had a huge brain and could communicate with the lights, Air, Heating and sprinklers.  The alarm told the lights, the pool and the heating and cooling systems if I was home or not.  The longer I was gone the less energy my house used.  A system like I had would easily run $9,000 or more.

While nine grand might sound like a lot, I saved nearly a grand each year on energy and my home always looked lived in.  The alarm panel was basically a well programmed computer. It had the ability to “learn”, but you had to tell it when you wanted it to learn.  Just three years since I finished my last home technology package, a lot has changed.  Solar panels have dropped 68% in price, making electricity less expensive and more practical.  Finally, computer chips have gotten smarter and cheaper too.

Now that I am a “consumer”, I look at home technology from a very different angle.  My apologies to my friends still in the business.  If you have structured wiring for internet and speakers throughout the house, you can pretty easily do the rest on your own.

My current home isn’t integrated like my previous three houses yet it is just as automated.  When we moved in, adding the “toys” was done in order of daily use and energy savings. Lighting control was first. If you have never had it, this might not make sense. If you have it, my be is you will never live without it again.  I only touch three light switches in my house, and all three are in my bathroom.  The rest of the house is fully automated, even my closet.

To solve this need, I found Insteon lighting control from SmartHome.  Insteon is more capable than my previous big name lighting system.  I have scenes, timers and the house knows if I am home or not, lighting wise that is.

My alarm doesn’t talk to my lights anymore.  My lights now have brains on their own.  Living along the Southern California Coast, I don’t have Air Conditioning, and only think about heat, two or three months a year.  This year, it has been colder than normal, so I started looking at the Insteon Thermostats to talk with my lighting system.

Walking through a big box hardware store with my wife, we passed the NEST display.  When my eyes popped, she bit and asked what a NEST was.  After looking it over, we both realized the NEST was the thermostat we both wanted.  Just tell it what you want and it learns.

Both the generation one and generation two NEST thermostats were on display.  We went for the thinner, and cooler second generation NEST.  The biggest problem was the old paint around the older, and significantly larger programmable thermostat that was there.

Like the lighting control, the NEST has enough brains built in to act on it’s own.  The NEST is smart enough that it doesn’t need to talk to anything else in the house.  The NEST can see if you are home, and learns your preferences.  If one of you turns up the heat, it knows.  If your schedule changes, the NEST knows.  As smart Thermostats go, the NEST is a major improvement over my last smart system.

Since I work from home at random times it is nice that the NEST thermostat knows that I am working from home, so instead of having to reset the temperature on the days I stay home or paying to heat the house when I leave, the NEST takes care of me automatically.

If you are looking for an easy way to save energy, be comfortable, and not have to read a manual about how to program your thermostat, a NEST might be the answer.

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