Smart Tip Add a Nest to your Nest

Here’s a smart tip: add a nest to your nest. What? As I mentioned in my post yesterday about the things we can do to improve our commitment to the world around us for Earth Day, I added a Nest thermostat to my home recently.

 

What is a Nest you may ask? Quite simply, it is a smart thermostat. It was built by some of the super-smart folks who built the original iPod and iPhones. And what’s cool about it is that it is so simple to use, just like the iPod. It comes with no real instructions, and you can install it yourself. Really.

 

 

I read a great article in the NY Times about the Nest thermostat and decided it was worth a try in my own Costa Mesa real estate home.

 

I ordered it online at their site, and at the time it was slightly backordered. I did receive it in the mail a couple of weeks later – it costs $249, slightly more than most thermostats. I didn’t mind the higher price – have you ever tried to program your current thermostat? Sheesh, I’m pretty smart but I could never quite figure that out the whole way. A device that learns for you, and figures out your comfortable patterns of heating and cooling, then programs itself? Worth a try.

 

When I received it, I was a bit concerned because of the lack of documentation included. The company refers you to a YouTube video for installation. I did that, and you know what, within fifteen minutes I had this puppy installed in my own Costa Mesa real estate home.

 

Once installed, you click it one time just like an iPod. A welcome message comes on, then the device prompts you through a few quick questions. That’s it. Super simple. It looks so cool, I couldn’t help but scroll the wheel through all the settings. Too much fun not to check it out. It is smart enough that you can click on your settings, but I opted for it to learn from my family’s patterns. I’m not home most of the day, so I don’t have a feel for the usage during the day – let the Nest figure it out, right?

 

 

So I guess it was about 10 days or so, and the nest tells me it is done learning our patterns. It set up the heating schedule all by itself! This was back in Feb-Mar when we were still using the heat at night. So awesome.

 

Now, in the last month or so, I can’t say I have heard the heat come on. It is so nice not to have to constantly check the thermostat for its setting each night – now I know my Nest has got it.

 

Another cool thing happened about a month ago – The Nest sent me an email. Really. It told me it had updated its cooling setting before summer came. Since it is an internet-connected device, it will receive updates from base camp. How sweet is that? I love the whole hands-off idea of it.

 

Here’s my takeaway regarding the Nest – The Nest is simple to use, is gorgeous, is a smart 21st-century adaptable device, and best of all, it is saving me significant money each month.

 

I would recommend this for your own home. So far I have saved about $30 a month since installing compared to my bills from the same period a year ago.

 

I should get a fee for plugging them! Oh well, saving money each month works just fine :).

 

If you want more input on why I think this is so great, E-mail me here.

 

I would take this smart tip: add a nest to your nest