I wrote a few weeks ago about the new Nest “smart” thermostats that have come out (more here). Some of the original iPod designers left Apple to start Nest. Mine were installed today: they’re awesome. Here’s why.

• The thermostats have motion, humidity and temperature sensors. So, they’ll power down if someone hasn’t been in a room for 2 hours
• They are WiFi connected. So, I can set the temperature from my computer, iPhone and iPad. This will be great when we ski and can fire up the heat during the car drive home
• The WiFi connection also lets the units track the local weather, and so, if you want the heat at 72 degrees by 6 am, they’ll calculate when they need to fire up given that weather in order to hit the right temp by that time. The thermostats also learn over time how long it takes to cool or heat your particular home
• Nest.com customer service has been great. I had some wiring problems, and so, they sent out an HVAC person to troubleshoot (for a fee)
• I can create a temperature schedule or let the unit “learn” our schedule in about a week’s time. I’m going to try the latter and see how it goes

The thermostats supposedly save a lot of energy. The break-even period is about two years. More at Nest.com.