The Nest Thermostat brings you savings and style

"By the people who brought you the iPod..." That's how Nest Labs is often described online. Co-founders Tony Fadell (former Apple Inc. Senior Vice President, iPod Division) and Matt Rogers (former Apple Inc. Senior Manager, iPod and iPhone Software) joined forces in 2010 and created the company that would invent the world's most elegant and smartest thermostat.

Currently available in the U.S. and Canada

When I first heard about their new company I, like most people, thought it was an odd thing to move from cutting edge iPods to ho-hum thermostats. But then I saw the Nest Learning Thermostat and realized that they had given home heating and cooling a design update that was long overdue, both functionally and aesthetically. The Nest is sleek, silver, round, and lights up. It bear no resemblance to the rectangular, vanilla colored, plastic boxes we've come to know. But the nest isn't just about looks. From the Nest website:

THE PROBLEM

"89% of programmable thermostats waste energy—about $173 a year, on average. They’re so complicated that most people don’t bother to program them."

The nest is easy to install (it took hubby longer to find the breaker to shut off the power then it took to remove our old thermostat and install our new Nest) and use. It's smart and learns your schedule and habits which helps you save money. It's eco-friendly because it cuts back on wasted energy.

Above are two photos of the Nest thermostat installed in our hallway. The thermostat goes dark until you walk by, then the built in motion sensor is activated and lights up. Cool. When it senses no one is home it turns itself off. Walk past it and it comes on heating or cooling the house to your desired temperature.

Nest Sense helps you learn how your system works and how to save money

But you don't have to be in your house to control it. There's a mobile app for that! Remotely you can turn your heat or cooling on, off, up, or down. It's that easy.

There are also energy usage reports you can view online that let you know your energy history. We learned that our furnace filters needed to be cleaned. Without the Nest we wouldn't have realized they had become a problem.

Yesterday I spotted the Nest at the Los Gatos Apple store

But why am I blogging about Nest Labs? In the past I've mentioned that hubby worked at Apple Inc. as the Head of Macintosh Desktop Software for the iPod Division. Everyone thought he'd be an Apple lifer. But circumstances evolve, people change jobs, and since last fall he's been the Head of Mac Desktop Engineering at Nest Labs.

Just like at Apple, hubby works under non-disclosure agreements so when it comes to what he does each day or what Nest Labs has in store for us in the future, your guess is as good as mine. This means we'll all find out what he's been up to together as new products are released.

The thermostat is available online at Nest.com, on Amazon (1st generation and 2nd generation) and at select retailers like Apple and Lowes.

You can visit their website and learn more at www.Nest.com