Location-Based Thermostat Management
Posted by Kevin McGuire on Saturday, July 17, 2010 · 
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There’s been quite a bit of buzz about the Smart Grid recently (look for a New Edge series on Smart Grid coming in a few weeks), but I’ve often wondered how consumers will benefit. Allure Energy has finally opened my eyes to what is possible with a smart home system.
Imagine this: once you leave your house in the morning, your smartphone sends location information back to your thermostat allowing the temperature to increase. As you are on your way home, the closer you get, the closer to normal your thermostat is set — thereby ensuring you have a nice, cool home when you arrive. Sounds like science fiction, right? Wrong…
With Allure Energy’s Proximity Managed Energy Solution, this scenario can be reality. The company has an application for smartphones that allows you to have full control over your thermostat, or allows it to set the temperature based on distance from your home. Allure Energy’s mobile app allows for such cool features as:
- Automatically control your energy usage based on your location to your home
- Access current thermostat, temperature and operating conditions using your smartphone
- Control operation of your SmarThermostatTM using your smartphone
- Access real-time energy savings data in a mobile environment
- Receive and respond to wireless Home Energy Alerts
I think this is only the beginning of what we’ll see in home automation. Imagine lights that turn on/off when you enter/leave a room, TVs that automatically adjust for the amount of ambient light in the room, and laundry rooms that automatically wash and dry your clothes based on time of day (and thus cheaper electricity). Will your telco be there to help customers install and manage these devices?
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