Tony Fadell brings us the Nest Thermostat. (He worked on the iPod when he was at Apple.) Nest learns what you want as you interact with it. No more programming (only 6% of programmable thermostats are actually programmed, even though this one household appliance can save 30-40% in energy costs related to heating and cooling). ”That’s a massive design problem,” says FastCo.
This one device has the power to significantly reduce the rate of acceleration of US carbon emissions. My only gripe - it costs $250.
There should be government and utility subsidies to install these. Or some unemployed HVAC technician should start a business - he installs them at no cost to the homeowner and he gets paid in 50% of the energy savings. He (or she) could be a millionaire in 5 years. Just need a line of credit from a bank (Ha!) for start-up capital. Or you could head over to kickstarter.
