The Lowly Thermostat, Now Minter of Megawatts

The utilities pay Nest $25 + $15&#x2F;year for each Nest owner that agrees to sign up, while the owner gets a <i>one-time</i> $85 rebate. Excuse me?<p>I&#x27;m all for helping lower peak demand, but if the utilities are going to be saving billions, I think this should reflect an ongoing savings for the customers, too.

This is cool, few years ago, I interned for the Tennessee Valley Authority on their Energy Efficiency and Demand Response team. The bulk of our peak demand savings came from industrial customers [1] but we did have a program for residential users, but it was more on the general efficiency side [2].<p>[1] - <a href="http://www.enernoc.com/our-resources/brochures-faq/faq-tennessee-valley-authority-demand-response" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.enernoc.com&#x2F;our-resources&#x2F;brochures-faq&#x2F;faq-tenne...</a><p>[2] - <a href="http://www.energyright.com/residential/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.energyright.com&#x2F;residential&#x2F;</a>

With solar on the roof, I&#x27;m putting power onto the grid during those peak times. Maybe if they paid for more peak power, more people would put on solar, which would provide peak output when AC is most needed.<p>Seems less invasive than tracking when I tend to be home or not home. Next up, they&#x27;ll track where I&#x27;m driving and only turn on the heat&#x2F;AC when I appear to be heading home. I wonder who else would find that kind of info useful.

This indiegogo campaign launched 2 days ago is doing a &quot;Nest for split A&#x2F;Cs&quot;: <a href="http://igg.me/at/sensibo/x" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;igg.me&#x2F;at&#x2F;sensibo&#x2F;x</a><p>Hopefully they can help the rest of the world become more energy efficient. Thermostats are not common outside the US.

Am I missing something here? I&#x27;m genuinely curious why anyone would think it&#x27;s a good idea to surrender control over something that directly affects their everyday comfort, especially if it&#x27;s air conditioning in Texas.

I can imagine a future where energy is priced in real time. The only reason it hasn&#x27;t been done so far is that it wasn&#x27;t technically practical until recently. Imagine if you could tell your Nest to optimize the comfort of your house and keep it below a projected budget. If battery technology progresses, the Nest could even one day store energy at low points and use the battery at more expensive times.

Looks like most of Texas has it. Too bad I&#x27;m up in the panhandle.