I was fortunate enough to spend Memorial Day weekend in Washington, D.C.  My wife and I went up for a wedding and I was able to see the great exhibit on Electricity that is at the National Museum of American History.  But while I was there I realized I forgot to reprogram my thermostats so they would know I was on vacation!  This meant I was cooling space that nobody was in.  Below is the image of my electricity consumption from Saturday and Sunday taken from Google PowerMeter and TED 5000:

Electricity consumption with Upstairs thermostat on

The red circle is highlighting the electricity consumption between 12 A.M and 12 P.M. on Saturday.  Since I have my downstairs thermostat programmed to be off during this time, the green spikes in the circle reflect my upstairs thermostat turning on our A.C. unit (it's where we sleep). The only problem was that we left for D.C. on Friday, so the spikes represent wasted energy!

Luckily I have an Ecobee programmable thermostat that I can control over the internet for our upstairs air conditioning ( I wish I had one for downstairs as well).  So around lunch on Saturday afternoon I pulled out my iPhone and used the Ecobee iPhone app to put my thermostat in vacation mode (which basically sets the temperature really high so the thermostat doesn't kick on). I also showed everyone who was in the vicinity how cool it was that I could do this.  Unfortunately Secretary of Energy Steven Chu was not around to witness this.

You can see this change reflected in my consumption from 12 A.M. to 12 P.M. on Sunday; there are no spikes in consumption because my upstairs thermostat (now in vacation mode) was not telling my A.C. unit to kick on!

Of course I still had the downstairs thermostat coming on and wasting energy, but since I only have the Ecobee on the upstairs unit I'll have to remember to turn the downstairs one off before we head to the airport.

Luckily I have tools like Google PowerMeter, TED 5000, and Ecobee internet programmable thermostat to help me trim my energy consumption habits!

Tags: 
ecobee
Google PowerMeter
iphone thermostat
ted 5000
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Comments

Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/30/2011 - 16:54
But the Remote Sensor module will not take in Co2 in the home unit, need the commercial version of the Ecobee the EMS
Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 01/29/2011 - 04:15
Ecobee has a new Remote Power Module which allows the control to sense co2 and additional temperature sensors. At Frederick Mechanical we sell and install this great product. Schedule now and see the difference. 513-523-6363
ckmapawatt's picture
ckmapawatt Tue, 03/29/2011 - 11:57
Well....there is <a href="http://mapawatt.com/2010/12/14/wi-fi-programmable-thermostat-3m-radio-thermostat/" rel="nofollow">this one</a>. Not as good looking but much cheaper. But I have the Ecobee and I love it!
Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 01/09/2011 - 17:50
Great product and we sell up to three a week. We found this about a year ago and have already seen the great things that come from control. We can install this product for you. Frederick Mechanical 513-726-6363 or 513-945-9111 we are in the Cincinnati Ohio Area.
Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/02/2010 - 19:14
I do like the Ecobee but it is quite pricey.
psmith Tue, 06/01/2010 - 13:57
I just posted this to Steven Chu's fan page to get the word out. This is the kind of technology that exists today that can drastically improve our energy footprint. We just need to get the word out!
Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/29/2011 - 01:59
Ecobee thermostat is really a great product. We have sold many of them and have had no problems. Some think that these are expensive, but how many products can you buy that will pay for them selves over and over again. Frederick Mechanical Cincinnati Ohio area call us today with any questions 513-523-6363
Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/31/2010 - 23:29
Does the EcoBee let you set up remote thermometers that will govern the temperature at particular times of day? At night, I'd like our boiler to turn on or off based on the upstairs temperature; by day, I'd like the downstairs temperature to call the shots. (We don't have a zoned system - it's Victorian-era steam.) George
Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 06/01/2010 - 22:41
George, Unfortunately I don't have the answer to this one. If you go to Ecobee.com you should be able to email a support question in.

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