I’ve loved the new inovations I’ve seen in the home and business market. Well, thats hard to categorize. I would just say “home”, but the same things can be used in a business so I’ll include both.
I’m referring particularly to the Nest thermostat, the Keen vent, and the Lockitron keyless entry system.
Both are pretty cool. The Nest thermostat allows you to intelligently monitor and control the heating and cooling in your home, and thus monitor and control a large portion of your energy bill. The Keen vent does, well, the same thing but in a different way.
One can’t help but think: What other things in the home are ripe for innovation? Perhaps toilets, showers, lights, window blinds, outlets, light switches, door locks (check), vents (check), thermostats (check).
The thing I LOVE about these innovations is the number of homes and business that they can be used in. Wow.
Here’s an idea: windows and window blinds that intelligently adjust to help optimize the heating and cooling system. Allow me to explain:
Growing up, and during the summer months, I would watch as my step mom went through every room of the house at 7pm and 9pm at night, and again at 7am and 11am in the morning. Here was the schedule:
- 7pm – open the blinds and the windows to let the cool air in
- 9pm – close the blinds and windows for the night
- 9am – open the blinds and the windows to let the cool air in
- 11am – close the blinds and windows to keep out the hot sun during the day
I remember her saying that once she started doing this, the cooling bill for the house went waaay down. How cool, I thought – using the windows and blinds and the cool air outside to save money and energy.
The idea then is to power windows and blinds to intelligently adjust to help optimize the heating and cooling system. Let cool air in during hot seasons to help with the cooling, let the sunlight in during cold seasons to help with the heating. The windows would intelligently adjust their schedule based on weather (you wouldn’t want to open the windows during a wind storm or rain storm).
What is the point of cooling an empty home during summer days while your window blinds stay open allowing the hot sunlight in? Quit pitting your AC in a battle against the sun. Just close the blinds for crying out loud.
I’m sure this could save a ton of energy for millions of homes and business throughout the world.
I, among thousands of others I’m sure, would love to have thought of the ideas that are already launched. I would love to start a whole company with the goal of improving energy use and efficiency in the home. I’ve thought about this quite a bit and this is a super interesting space to me. An intersection of technology and physical product. Something that can have a positive impact on millions of people.
Awesome.