Nest Labs says it has three studies in hand that prove its Nest Learning Thermostat saves homeowners an average of 10% to 12% a year on heating bills and 15% on cooling bills. Savings amounted to an average of $131 to $145 a year, allowing buyers to pay off the purchase price in less than two years.
In a press release, the company says that the studies are the first large-scale research on the Nest and point to potential energy savings that “properly programmed” thermostats offer.
The $250 Nest is designed to keep track of settings homeowners enter and then reproduce them itself. For example, if the homeowner turns down the heat at 10 p.m. and back up at 6 a.m., the thermostat “learns” the settings in a few days and makes the adjustments automatically. The Wi-Fi-connected Nest also can be adjusted with a smartphone.
According to the company, two of the studies were independently designed and evaluated and were conducted by the Energy Trust of Oregon and Vectren, which Nest identified as an Indiana-based utility company. The third was performed by Nest’s own MyEnergy service.
Not living up to expectations
Energy-savings claims for programmable thermostats are nothing new. The problem has been that the devices haven’t lived up to their theoretical potential.
Nest says that both manufacturers and the Environmental Protection Agency have estimated energy savings of 20% for people using the devices.
“However,” Nest adds, “this approach is imprecise, because (1) very few programmable thermostats run a schedule that accurately reflects occupants’ schedules and (2) people with a manual thermostat often make temperature adjustments at various points as opposed to maintaining a constant temperature. Due in part to the difficulty of getting real savings data, in 2009, programmable thermostats lost their Energy Star rating.”
All three studies found similar savings with the Nest, according to a summary provided by the manufacturer, although Nest cautions that results can vary by how people use their thermostats, what kind of heating and cooling equipment they have, and the climate they live in.
The Energy Trust survey involved 185 homes equipped with heat pumps; the MyEnergy data came from 735 homes with gas-fired appliances and another 642 homes with electric heating and cooling equipment.
In Indiana, Vectren hired a contractor to install Nest thermostats in 300 homes and standard programmable thermostats in 300 other homes. Nest thermostats saved more than twice as much natural gas used for heating as the standard programmable thermostats, although the savings in the amount of electricity used for cooling was roughly the same: 13.9% for Nest homes vs. 13.1% for non-Nest homes.
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Energy savings are not a myth, Nest Labs says after announcing studies that show customers can save 10% or more on heating bills.
