Communications of the ACM
UA-Developed Technology Helps Find Happy Middle Between Low Temps and High Bills
A monitor developed by University of Arizona researchers will allow consumers to set the temperature in their homes based on how much they want to spend on electricity.
Credit: boerbrothershvac.com
Consumers will be able to set the temperature in their home based on how much they want to spend on electricity using a monitor developed by researchers at the University of Arizona (UA).
The monitor is designed to work with a Wi-Fi-enabled thermostat to automatically manage temperature settings.
The thermostat add-on shares information between the home's thermostat and dedicated servers. The monitor learns the temperature-related characteristics of the home and then forecasts costs using information about the outside climate, residents' comfort and budget preferences, and data from the thermostat.
Consumers can use a mobile app or website to gain feedback on how changes in temperature settings and budget affect one another. The system automatically implements daily thermostat set points to meet the budget and shows how manual thermostat changes will likely impact budget limits.
"With this technology, people can decide what they want their comfort levels to be depending on how much they want to spend for electricity," says UA professor Jonathan Sprinkle.
From UA News (AZ)
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