3 ms·

Let's see, for $250 you can spend $10 per room in sensors. Let's say you have 10 rooms. The remaining $150 can easily cover the cost of a fairly intelligent c

Let's see, for $250 you can spend $10 per room in sensors. Let's say you have 10 rooms. The remaining $150 can easily cover the cost of a fairly intelligent controller. That would be a better system with potential for far more intelligence, particularly if coupled with a simple zone system modification to the AC ducting (valves that can route air where it is needed and prevent it form going where it is not). Something like that would have a far greater effect on the cost and efficiency of controlling an environment than a single expensive thermostat in one room. That's what bugs me about these kinds of products. They never address the real problem. They are only there to find a niche that you can sell a gadget into with some pretext that may or may not exist, like the idea that thermostats are hard to program. OK then, try this one, it's cheaper: http://www.smarthome.com/30429/Venstar-T5800-ColorTouch-Full-Color-Touch-Screen-Thermostat/p.aspx http://www.smarthome.com/30429/Venstar-T5800-ColorTouch-Full... The thermostat is not the problem. Homes (and buildings in general) are wasting energy because we are still approaching thermal management they way it was done 50 years ago. Here in the US it is not uncommon to cover the top of a commercial building with black tar (for waterproofing purposes). And then you wonder why it cost so much money to keep that building cool. These outdated ideas and methods need to change. That's the problem.

egypturnash 15y ago
Like I said above, you're interested in this at "I compile my own kernels from scratch" levels of commitment. The Nest is for "I open my Mac and it just works" levels of commitment. You are quite correct in that the Nest is far from being a perfect solution. But you keep on neglecting to figure in the cost of all the time you spend learning about this stuff, installing it, and frobbing it. How many hours have you sunk into improving your home? What's your hourly rate when you're working? If you LIKE doing it then it's easy to discount that. I'd like to improve my home's energy consumption too, but I'm not interested in spending days and days thinking hard about it, installing ugly boxes on the wall (the Nest looks a hell of a lot better than that box to my eyes, and this does matter to me because I'm an artist), and getting armpit-deep in ducting. Spending a little more money and not having to sweat all the details sounds like a great compromise to me; I might not get the gains you would, but having a smart system I can control from the Internet is still going to make some improvements! Also, reading the Nest's pages, I got the impression that what they REALLY want it to be is one Nest in every room - the things will network with each other. They're just starting, small production runs are pricey. I would bet that they are eagerly awaiting the day when they can sell 3-packs or even 10-packs for what one costs now.

egypturnash 15y ago

Like I said above, you're interested in this at "I compile my own kernels from scratch" levels of commitment. The Nest is for "I open my Mac and it just works" levels of commitment. You are quite correct in that the Nest is far from being a perfect solution. But you keep on neglecting to figure in the cost of all the time you spend learning about this stuff, installing it, and frobbing it. How many hours have you sunk into improving your home? What's your hourly rate when you're working? If you LIKE doing it then it's easy to discount that. I'd like to improve my home's energy consumption too, but I'm not interested in spending days and days thinking hard about it, installing ugly boxes on the wall (the Nest looks a hell of a lot better than that box to my eyes, and this does matter to me because I'm an artist), and getting armpit-deep in ducting. Spending a little more money and not having to sweat all the details sounds like a great compromise to me; I might not get the gains you would, but having a smart system I can control from the Internet is still going to make some improvements! Also, reading the Nest's pages, I got the impression that what they REALLY want it to be is one Nest in every room - the things will network with each other. They're just starting, small production runs are pricey. I would bet that they are eagerly awaiting the day when they can sell 3-packs or even 10-packs for what one costs now.