Smart Thermostat

There are many thermostats in the market that concentrate on home energy management featuring programmable settings that allow the user to save maximum power by scheduling the thermostat.

However there is a thermostat that programs itself based on weather forecasts that effectively saves power as well as keeps the home at a perfect temperature. This auto programming is done by some intelligent software named ‘e5′.

E5 is a demand-response software developed by EnergyHub and Earth Networks,with the help of more than 9,000 weather observation stations around the country. Owned by earth Networks, e5 receives periodic updates on weather conditions and reports to the smart thermostat fixed in each home. Upon receiving this live, local weather status and forecast the smart thermostat makes changes to the home’s temperature accordingly thereby being both energy efficient and automatic.

If there is a blizzard approaching the city, the smart thermostat receives updates and instructions from e5 and will quickly increase the heat in the home rather than demanding immense power after the blizzard. In doing this, we not only save power we also reduce the grid load.

Apart from auto-updating and auto-programming, users can manually program the thermostat via remote; the company has even created a Smartphone app which does the programming option remotely.

“Many utilities are interested in rolling out demand response programs, but user adoption is limited because consumers want to retain control of their thermostat and remain comfortable while saving both energy and money,” says Earth Networks Energy Products and Business Development Director Dave Oberholzer.

Based on the consumer’s own selections, the e5 program maintains desired comfort level while optimizing energy use by pre-cooling or preheating in response to local weather, and when a demand response event is anticipated by forecasted conditions.

Further, the e5 program provides users with a home energy audit, which ranks the efficiency of the house using local weather conditions including temperature, wind and solar fluctuations. From the rankings, e5 provides a customized and prioritized list of recommended steps users can take to save energy and reduce costs for their home energy systems.