Issue: Thermostats control half of a residential home’s energy bill. They are often set to one temperature regardless of whether or not anyone is home. If the thermostats can be adjusted for when a house is empty, each household can reduce 20% of their total energy costs.

Proposed Solution:

1. Use a proven smart technology thermostat such as Nest, which learns each household’s room temperature preferences and automatically adjusts itself after a week.
2. The Nest thermostat has a motion detector and will turn off the AC or heat when there is no one home.
3. Nest calculates how long each home takes to heat or cool and begins heating or cooling a home before there are people home. This discourages families from setting extreme temperatures such as 55°F when they actually wanted it to be 70 °F. People mistakenly assume that a home will reach 70 °F faster if the thermostat was set at 55°F.
4. An article in Green Building Advisor compiled studies on the Nest technology. In two separate states, Oregon and Indiana, the Nest technology has been proven to provide cost savings.

Stakeholders:

1. Households: landlords or renters
2. Nest Thermostat Support Team

Initial Steps for Deployment:

1. Buy and Install Nest Thermostat, can choose to self-install or pay for a professional.
2. Manually adjust Nest Thermostat for the first two weeks. Nest Thermostat will learn the household’s room temperature preferences.
3. Track monthly energy usage through Nest’s energy report.