Ecobee debuts energy-saving, WiFi-connected Smart Thermostat

Sure, you can outfit your whole home with ZigBee-connected home automation devices, but if you're not quite ready to take that plunge in the future, you may want to consider something like Ecobee's new Smart Thermostat, which will give you a taste of home automation and help you save a few bucks in the process. Like some other similar thermostats, this one relies on WiFi to connect to your home network, which should ease installation considerably, and it even includes some optional ZigBee expansion slots in case you do want to integrate it into a more complete home automation setup. At $385 though, the device isn't exactly cheap, but the company says it'll pay for itself in energy cost savings within the first 12 to 18 months. You'll be able to put that claim to the test yourself when the device starts shipping early next year.

[ccoolty @ Oct 15th 2008 1:47PM]

Cool.... or hot.

[ybd @ Oct 15th 2008 8:31PM]

I'll give you an 8 for effort and a 2 for the actual joke.

[uhm @ Oct 15th 2008 1:51PM]

Does it bother anyone that the "save" icon is a dude leaving out the exit door?

[Peter_T @ Oct 16th 2008 10:50AM]

...the Quick Save is a little misleading - it's for quickly saving energy. As in, if you're heading out and want to interrupt your program to cut the heating or cooling while you're gone, hit the quick save button.

[DirtyVegas @ Oct 15th 2008 1:51PM]

I use a much more cheaper energy saving device. It's called a sweater.

[DirtyVegas @ Oct 15th 2008 1:52PM]

...and spandex!!

[chris fredette @ Oct 15th 2008 4:36PM]

Ha, but do you have $385 in sweaters? Those Cosby one's are right up there.
Maybe one could save money with this and only buy shorts.

I really would like a thermostat that has a wireless remote I can put upstairs in case I forget to take the hold off before bed or I need to adjust the temp upstairs. Maybe I need a ranch? Na

[htd @ Oct 15th 2008 1:53PM]

I have those thermometer that doesnt use any eletricity during operation, my atomic clocks show temp too and one AA can last for more than a year.

[Tyler @ Oct 15th 2008 1:54PM]

I've been waiting for something like this for quite some time. I hope they add iPhone integration!

[Tyler Willis @ Oct 15th 2008 1:56PM]

Oh yes... and come down a little on the price please!

[Le Big Mac @ Oct 15th 2008 2:06PM]

Although the t-stats with which it competes are generally $200+ items as well.

[decyph3r @ Oct 15th 2008 2:08PM]

Low-end set point is only 58 degrees F. This is NOT green for those of us in northern environments. If I'm away on vacation or for extended periods, I would typically set my thermostats to 50 degrees (some set to 55 in the area). By forcing me to set to 58 degrees, I am WASTING energy that I don't need to be. When down south, I set to 40 degrees. Now this device is seriously wasting energy. Get a clue Ecobee. You should allow setting a minimum temperature down to at least 40 degrees. Your device is NOT green, no matter how you spin the lovely tech specs. Other then that, pretty nice device :)

[Mike @ Oct 15th 2008 2:26PM]

I live in Florida and leave the A/C on 70 even when I'm not at home, just because I can. I couldn't care less about being green if green crawled in front of me begging.

[Jason @ Oct 15th 2008 2:28PM]

Agreed, I can also see a good use of this thermostat for buildings like a garage or on a farm where minimum temps are kept around 40-50 degrees. Even houses that have multizone setups.

[Nacho PATA @ Oct 15th 2008 5:09PM]

I keep my garage at 42 to keep the cars from freezing temps. Helps them easily last 200k miles. In northern Iowa, it has been known to get down to 25-30 below F with 60+ mph winds. Forcing a minimum 58 F temp would cost hundreds over the winter.

[Brad @ Oct 15th 2008 7:24PM]

Uhm, it's SOFTWARE.

Unless there's some lower limit on the little temperature sensor in there, I can't imagine WHY it would have a lower limit on what you could set it to. Anyhow, the lower limit you're looking at there is only the temperature display. It isn't the "program" mode, it's just an overly-pretty thermometer.

[Larry @ Oct 15th 2008 2:12PM]

I was just searching for Wi-Fi t-stats on Google last week. I like this, but I'm wondering if there will be an extra cost for the website. I don't see why I couldn't just run a program on my PC to manage it, even if it was just an html file.

And the price is a little high.

[Jason @ Oct 15th 2008 2:13PM]

Cost saving in 12-18 monthes... Hmm ok, so that would be if I wasn't already using a $30 programmable thermostat, if I also had central air, if I had the "typical" 4,000 sq foot house, if I had a 4,000 sq foot house with junk insulation. As cool as it might be it still a just a thermostat that likely doesn't save you any more than a $30 programmable ones available today. That said go buy it now because I want to buy one when the economies of scale get the price down to $100.

[Ghen @ Oct 15th 2008 2:44PM]

Exactly, My $30 thermostat comes with 7 programmable settings, each with 4 times. So that's wake, work, home from work, and sleep times for all 7 days a week. If this thing can fine tune that into saving me $400 in a year I'd love to see how.

[RehabMan @ Oct 15th 2008 2:13PM]

It doesn't appear from reading their site that multiple ecobee thermostats would be linked in any way. At my house, I have three thermostats, and one humidifier. It would be nice if they'd modify the software so that tasks like putting the house in "energy savings mode," "vacation mode," and even general programming could be accomplished without duplicating the actions on each and every thermostat you happen to have. And for that price -- they should be linked.

[coffee @ Oct 15th 2008 2:21PM]

I don't know about you, but I don't suddenly bolt upright in my chair at work, remembering I had the thermostat at 80, and needing to fix it right away.

With cheap, programmable LCD thermostats at Home Depot for $40, it's pretty simple to change the thermostat settings maybe 3, 4 times a year. If you happen to have the day off, you can always walk over and adjust it.

I can bear the cold/heat for the 10 minutes after I walk in after work until the home is heated/cooled, or I can set the thermostat to kick in 10 minutes before I get home.

I admit, it would be nice to secretly use my laptop to reset the thermostat after my evidently cold-blooded wife sets it up to 85 once again in mid-October. She always nabs me walking over to the thermostat, but if I can do it wirelessly...

[y3k.nik @ Oct 15th 2008 2:43PM]

Should be worth it for you then huh? Whats better than annoying wives by changing temperature in rooms without them knowing who did it...

[james @ Oct 16th 2008 4:21PM]

I had a roommate who was constantly cranking the heat up like that, I finally added a resistor to the sensor to fool the thing into reading higher than the actual temp. Still turned the thing up to the same temperature even though it was actually 3-4 degrees cooler in the room. Definitely a psychological factor there. Mechanical (knob) thermostats usually have a calibration screw behind the knob that does the same thing.

When it's winter up here, you dress warmly. Some people don't seem to get that and lay around in summer clothes complaining that they're cold.

[NHAnimator @ Oct 15th 2008 2:49PM]

Like: Being able to access it from anywhere.

Dislike: Replacing my $35 unit with one that costs 10x as much and won't save me the difference for MANY years.

[Nathan Zeldes @ Oct 15th 2008 2:53PM]

$385, huh?...

Funny thing is, used to be that a thermostat was the simplest piece of control mechanism imaginable - just a bimetallic strip with a couple of contacts...

[Brad @ Oct 15th 2008 7:13PM]

And just a quarter of an ounce of mercury!

I had one of the old mercury contact-coil thermostats. They worked great, until someone bumped it up to 90 on their way out the door. Then my gas bill was 10x what it should be.

Plus, with wireless alerts, I could finally have that thing that all fathers are SUPPOSED to have in their heads, a thing that tells them when the thermostat has been touched.

[JohnnyGTO @ Oct 15th 2008 3:04PM]

You know whats crazy about home environments? We are constantly counter productive! Why does my fridge, water heater and stove dump waste heat into my home? Why are most homes today cooling when its colder outside? Anyone ever think of ducting/collecting waste heat and perhaps exchanging outside air for inside when the temperature is right. Obviously not here in Arizona. We are so well insulated it takes HOURS for the inside and outside temps to equalize without actually running the A/C!

[Jim @ Oct 15th 2008 3:13PM]

You might want to read about evaporative cooling systems. If you really live in AZ, I can't see how you haven't heard of them.

My friend lives in New Mexico, and they use one.

[Xenoterranos @ Oct 15th 2008 5:29PM]

Or, you know, open the windows and doors to let a nice breeze in. That works sometimes.

[Chuck Steel @ Oct 15th 2008 3:44PM]

They should make this thing a digital photo frame while they're at it. It's stuck on the wall and obviously has power running to it. Why not display something more interesting when not in use. Touching it would bring up the thermostat controls again.

[Le Big Mac @ Oct 15th 2008 4:13PM]

Or have it power down (i.e., no illumination)

[Nacho PATA @ Oct 15th 2008 5:56PM]

Yes. A 3" picture viewer or a 10" thermostat is what I want on the wall.

[MikeMulligan @ Oct 15th 2008 3:14PM]

For all those complaining about the price:

Yes, it's expensive. But if these guys do what I'm sure they really want to, you won't be paying them $400 for the thermostat. Your utility will be paying them that price (- bulk discounts), and including it in some energy-saving rollout program, and maybe charging you a monthly fee to control this, and other energy-related devices in your home.

[Chris Johnson @ Jan 30th 2009 9:00AM]

My power company already does that - http://www.cpsenergy.com/Residential/Rebates_Programs/Programs/Peak_Saver/index.asp

[cynthia @ Oct 15th 2008 3:32PM]

Try the PowerGard for another way to save energy, it works and is simple to install, just plug it into the wall. See it at www.powergard.ca

[ill trooper @ Oct 15th 2008 3:37PM]

If the price is too expensive for you, consider that it also doubles as a GPS device for inside your house, so you don't get lost looking for the kitchen.

[Wilco @ Oct 15th 2008 4:40PM]

Holy crap you could buy a freakin' smartphone for less than that.

[Ramone @ Oct 15th 2008 5:04PM]

smartphone is right. This should be a $5 iPhone app.

[Gipfelhaus @ Oct 15th 2008 4:36PM]

If you need a web enabled thermo, check out the one from Proliphix. It is PoE, so you need to run the right cable to the wall location, but it looks this one requires an ugly external power supply. Also, do you really really need a color screen with a limited web portal? I can get better info from my iPod or whatever.

I have the Proliphix nt20e and can access/control it from the web, perl, php, or whatever because it has an API. Make up your super duper program. Also, I think it about 1/2 the price of this Ecobee unit...

[michael @ Oct 15th 2008 10:11PM]

I agree...the Proliphix which I have seems superior to this in everything other than looks.

[paul @ Mar 24th 2009 7:42PM]

But then you have to run a POE cable to it. No thanks. WiFi FTW.

[Big Sam @ Oct 15th 2008 4:36PM]

I just turn my A/C or heater off when I'm not home. Beat that.

[Shunnabunich @ Oct 15th 2008 5:05PM]

I don't have the heart to make a Mr. Weatherbee joke out of this.

[Sam WRUD @ Oct 15th 2008 6:53PM]

For those of u looking for a set point under 55 deg F ... There is a reason why the T-Stat Manufactuer does this. ALL forced Hot Air gas furnaces are designed not to have air Colder than 55Deg F Cross the Heat Exchanger because it causes to big a temp swing and will lead to premature failure .

[karmaghost @ Oct 15th 2008 7:04PM]

This is pretty sweet, but at almost $400, I couldn't justify it. The savings would really depend on your current habits. If you keep the heat/cooling on while you're out of the house, this would save you some cash. But if you're like me or my parents, it might not be as economical. In fact, my parents' heating bill actually went UP after they got a programmable thermostat. That's because they used to keep the heat waaaaay down while they were out of the house, and then turn it back on when they arrived. Same thing at night. Now, the heat turns on about an hour before they get home or wake up, which adds up over the course of the winter. Also, they happen to set the thermostat about 3 degrees higher than they used to.

[Kris Quigley @ Oct 16th 2008 12:20AM]

What's it running on, Linux?

[Stuart Lombard @ Oct 16th 2008 8:03AM]

Full Disclosure, I work for ecobee...

Thanks for the really great comments. Here are some responses to some of your comments:

We recognize that we are not the cheapest thermostat on the market, but we believe that our features, including internet accessibility, ease of use and convenience provide good value.

You can find the proliphix thermostat here http://www.proliphix.com/ . According to their web site prices range from $300 (including power adapter) to over $600 (http://www.proliphixstore.com/prse1.html). Unfortunately, adding internet connectivity adds significant cost to any thermostat. We decided to use wifi instead of wired ethernet because we felt it was easier than asking homeowners to pull an ethernet cable to their thermostat location.

The apple iphone application is a great idea and it is on our roadmap although I can not give you specific date. A $5 iphone application will be great, but note that it needs to connect to a networked thermostat.

We would appreciate any feedback or suggestions you have - [e-mail]

[eyegotit @ Jan 30th 2009 6:17PM]

This thing has a b/g radio, so if you are already running n spec you will see a reduction in throughput on the network....just food for thought.