How the Market Handles the High Costs of Winter Heating
Peter Robinson ·
Jan 18 at 1:31pm
This device isn't for everybody--it costs $249, although, if the example of every other techie innovation serves as a guide, the price will surely drop. But just look at the thing. Simple. Easy-to-use. Even beautiful. And it'll help you control your winter heating costs without requiring some bloated federal program like a subsidy for home heating fuel.
I may like politics, but I love the market.
- Comment (52)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (3)
Comments :
Dec '10
Re: How the Market Handles the High Costs of Winter Heating
I prefer a simpler and more cost effective solution:
Did I mention that I have control issues?
Oct '11
Re: How the Market Handles the High Costs of Winter Heating
Designed by an Apple alum. I sell something similar (alas ... not as cool looking) for the hospitality industry.
Mar '11
Re: How the Market Handles the High Costs of Winter Heating
Somehow I find this simple device fascinating.
May '10
Re: How the Market Handles the High Costs of Winter Heating
This was obviously made for regions where the weather doesn't change every other day. It would be wasted on Houston.
Dec '11
Re: How the Market Handles the High Costs of Winter Heating
Great! California's Energy Commission will find that remote function very useful.
Feb '11
Re: How the Market Handles the High Costs of Winter Heating
Several years ago, Papa Toad and I got programmable thermostats. I love their abilities (turning up the heat in the rooms we use during the day, turning down the heat at night, etc.), but I loathe interacting with them. If the battery needs to be replaced, all the programming needs to be reset. It involves pushing many buttons and reading a teeny tiny itty bitty readout while doing so.... The manual was little to no help... I know how to set them now, but it is a job I hate and slightly fear.
I just finished reading Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs. It does not surprise me to hear this cute little fun and friendly device is designed by an Apple person.
Mar '11
Re: How the Market Handles the High Costs of Winter Heating
You can get pretty much the same saving by remembering to turn the old-fashioned thermostat down before bedtime and before going out in the morning - and much cheaper.
But, as fuel bills "necessarily skyrocket" I'll probably get one (or two, as I have upstairs and downstairs), as I often forget.
Yeah, I'll wait for the price to come down.
Apr '11
Re: How the Market Handles the High Costs of Winter Heating
Working in the engineering field, it's easy to forget that some of this is brand new to people. There's great stuff coming out there that's the result of the market, and not a result of a bureaucrat pushing paper. (Does this make me a Thermostat-Hipster?)
It's pretty simple, the Free Market responds to the needs of the customer.
I wonder if they make a similar device to replace my current Sarcasmostat?
Apr '11
Re: How the Market Handles the High Costs of Winter Heating
This was my reaction too. It really is nifty (and cool-looking), but how exactly does it save energy?
Jul '11
Re: How the Market Handles the High Costs of Winter Heating
Placing energy saving in the hands of power companies surely has a great analogy to both crack dealers and politicians. A patient of mine has a patent on a real time energy meter to help people remember to turn off electricity. The power companies have fought his company legally for years.
Mar '11
Re: How the Market Handles the High Costs of Winter Heating
I'm curious - Is there a device coming that will take individual homes off the grid? In other words, will there someday be a clean, quiet, cheap, mini-power plant in everyone's basement?
Jul '11
Re: How the Market Handles the High Costs of Winter Heating
Casey
I'm curious - Is there a device coming that will take individual homes off the grid? In other words, will there someday be a clean, quiet, cheap, mini-power plant in everyone's basement? · Jan 18 at 2:20pm
http://www.clearedgepower.com/
Edited on Jan 18 at 2:28pmBut at $50k, cheap it is not...
Feb '11
Re: How the Market Handles the High Costs of Winter Heating
The King Prawn: I prefer a simpler and more cost effective solution:
Did I mention that I have control issues? · Jan 18 at 1:43pm
King Prawn, you remind me of my dad. My sainted uncle was once staying with us, and he was known to think my dad was a bit tight with his money. When my uncle asked to turn up the heat in his room, my dad scowled at him and handed him his wallet. "Why don't you just take the money right out of my wallet?" he growled. My uncle put on a sweater, and his opinion of my dad was reinforced...
Oct '10
Re: How the Market Handles the High Costs of Winter Heating
Engineering is a craft we learn from failure, so excuse me if I sound a dour note.
Smart thermostats which adapt to your temperature preferences over the day, remember them, and by default apply them in the future are certainly better than those you have to set manually to the desired temperature. But a moment's reflection reveals the flaw in such a design. You turn down the temperature before you check out for the night, and the thermostat figures out after a few nights that it should automatically turn down a half hour before that time. You get up and it's cold; you turn up the temperature. The wise thermostat figures out that it should elevate the temperature before you awake.
But then you both go off to work, leaving the thermostat unchanged, and it continues to heat the house all the time you're away. Will you remember to turn it down when you head out the door? And if you don't, how will it know you don't need the house heated when you're away? (IR motion detectors are just creepy.)
Hey, I devoted a whole chapter in my diet book to thermostats!
Feb '11
Re: How the Market Handles the High Costs of Winter Heating
Casey
I'm curious - Is there a device coming that will take individual homes off the grid? In other words, will there someday be a clean, quiet, cheap, mini-power plant in everyone's basement? · Jan 18 at 2:20pm
My husband is an architect who builds zero-net energy homes. They are connected to the grid and use commercial power, but also have solar panels and geothermal heat. They are built of insulated concrete forms, so have less energy loss than conventional stick buildings. In the course of a year, they produce more energy than they consume, even here in New York. This is the future -- homes that are still connected, but not just consumers of energy.
Apr '11
Re: How the Market Handles the High Costs of Winter Heating
Casey
I'm curious - Is there a device coming that will take individual homes off the grid? In other words, will there someday be a clean, quiet, cheap, mini-power plant in everyone's basement? · Jan 18 at 2:20pm
No. Producing your own power in your own home is problematic at best. The most readily-available energy-producing product that can be installed in the home is Solar, and the power produced there requires you either have a good amount of land to devote to solar panels, or only partially get power from panels. Even in private business, solar is unpopular as it doesn't produce returns for 15-20 years.
The other option: Reduce your power needs to the barest minimum. See: The Amish.
Oct '10
Re: How the Market Handles the High Costs of Winter Heating
J.Voss
Casey
I'm curious - Is there a device coming that will take individual homes off the grid? In other words, will there someday be a clean, quiet, cheap, mini-power plant in everyone's basement? · Jan 18 at 2:20pm
http://www.clearedgepower.com/
But at $50k, cheap it is not... · Jan 18 at 2:27pm
This is not an “off-grid” solution, as it requires a feedstock of natural gas, which is usually supplied by pipelines (a grid in themselves), pressurised by pumps powered by the electrical grid. Unless you have a natural gas well, oil seep, or surface coal seam on your property, or you live in a place with near-year-round clear skies or a hydro power source, total off-grid living is extremely difficult and few people would be willing to accept its constraints absent any alternative.
Jul '11
Re: How the Market Handles the High Costs of Winter Heating
Little nuke plants the size of a washing machine are by no means improbable in the future. I have a few friends off the grid and geothermal is their trick.
Feb '11
Re: How the Market Handles the High Costs of Winter Heating
& they're sold out. But you can buy them for $300+ over on ebay.
Feb '11
Re: How the Market Handles the High Costs of Winter Heating
John Walker:
But then you both go off to work, leaving the thermostat unchanged, and it continues to heat the house all the time you're away. Will you remember to turn it down when you head out the door? And if you don't, how will it know you don't need the house heated when you're away? (IR motion detectors are just creepy.)· Jan 18 at 2:33pm
There's a phone app so you can turn it down using that if you forgot to do so. It would make more sense if you could just program the thing directly with a spreadsheet type application with times and temps and then use manual operation or phone app to override. Much simpler. Instead as a marketing gimmick they talk about remembering how to do things. Twaddle.