Noble's eye

jo0 see what i saw?

Smart Home Project (Part 2: Heating and Cooling)

Part 1: EV and Smart Meter :https://plus.google.com/u/0/109854785137745177366/posts/bTPTcazeBDB 

How many IP addresses at home does it take to make me happy? Tons apparently. Just to name a few: currently running off my wireless network:
+Home security system,
+Various gadgets & toys,
+TV/AVR/GoogleTV/Boxee etc
+Computers peripherals,

+Test transceivers for smartmeter, test boards etc,
+Some 240v appliances and now 
+Thermostat.

The Nest 
The Nest Thermostats got delivered today. A set of pliers, a level, sandwich and an hour later, my home thermostat is "self aware" and can be controlled from anything i own with an internet connect. The idea is to reduce energy and its cost at home, measure and share my energy consumption.

Read more about Nest~ www.nest.com

Thoughts on the device
+$250 - This thing costs way too much for a hermostat. Hopefully cost savings pays for it over time.
+'Purrrdy' - Very sleek and intuitive to use.
+Android/iOS - They launched it with popular native and web apps right off the bat
+Zigbee FTW - HVAC joins my home ecosystem. Perfect addition to a home automation project. 
+API - Would be nice. For now it does everything I need it to, except the ability for me to pull my own data from it. Time.

I'll try to make this part of a "You can't improve what you don't measure" on-going series:
Part 3: Zigbee and putting it all together.
Part 4: Data and savings if any.
Part n: Solar home?

My travel stats for 2011

Trips: 15
Days: 49
Distance: 25,513 mi or 41,059.19 km
Cities: 21
Countries: 4

That's just a tad bit over the circumference of the earth (40,075.04 km). I will be doing another lap next year and Latin America, Austrailia, Africa, Russia and Western Europe look pretty ripe for a visit. 

Stats by tripit

Smart Home Project (Part 1: Smart Meter)

Linked into the smart grid

I made the move to further reduce my energy costs at home. As of last May I rarely ever go to the gas station so more savings there.


How does it work? 
I own an EV and until now I get a flat fee bill, an approximate $0.05/day increase since I got my car. This smart meter knows that I charge my car at night and so I only get billed for the wattage that I use vs. the flat fee we've always received.
http://www.dom.com/about/environment/electric-vehicle-plus-home-pricing-plan.jsp

Now I'm looking at Android@Home, x10 alternatives for true 'future-home automation' nerd-dom. Tying in my home security, appliances, light switches etc. http://www.smarthome.com/

Over the next year or so I'll be upgrading ports, fixtures etc and hopefully looking for dashboards like http://www.microsoft-hohm.com/ to enjoy some data porn. Too bad Google nixed the power-meter servicehttp://www.google.com/powermeter/about/ I'll keep you updated on these projects.

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Posterous theme by Cory Watilo