The arrival of the smart home has made everything from turning off the lights to turning on the coffee maker easier than ever, but there are some issues that require extra smart to solve. For Nest smart thermostats, that extra help comes in the form of the company’s seasonal savings program, a feature designed to help save on energy costs. Previously restricted to users with specific service providers, it is now beginning to be implemented in all Nest thermostats.
Seasonal Savings is a program that has been made available to some Nest Thermostat users who are customers of select Nest Energy partners. Google bills him as a “personal energy assistant” who works behind the scenes to save energy and cut bills.
The feature learns from your home and temperature preferences over the course of a week, and makes small adjustments that equate to just a fraction of a degree every day. Google says that the biggest adjustments made generally occur while the home is sleeping or away from home, so users don’t even notice a difference in comfort. After the week ends, Nest adjusts the schedule for the rest of the season based on what has been learned to save you money.
Even if this doesn’t end up saving users a lot of energy bills (Google says it can expect 3-5%), it’s great to see what is possible when Google strives to improve things in the home sector. Features like Seasonal Savings showcase the benefits of the smart home in a tangible way that makes the benefits clear when compared to more traditional appliances. And in a rare good time case, Google has just added the ability to schedule a third-party installation of Nest products purchased from the Google Store.
