Soon you won't get to argue over the thermostat

“The home thermostat's role is destined to become increasingly more significant as upcoming code changes in California's Title 24 and Demand Response regulations are implemented. Thermostats will need to receive price and emergency signals from utilities and adjust conditions in response to these signals.”

Jimmy Carter wanted us to put on a sweater.

Now the government is ready to make us put on a sweater. Or take off our sweaters… Or open the windows.

Let’s face it folks, the only reason the utilities would want to sent signals to your thermostat in your home is to control it. And they admit it.

"Further complicating the mix is the increasing number of strategies that have been either envisioned or encouraged for future California homes. These strategies include:

the DR-responsive home, where reducing peak power demand is the primary goal of the thermostat;
the floating home, where careful design of thermal mass and solar design ensure acceptable comfort with mostly passive controls;

the smart home, where a dense network of sensors and automatic controls ensure that the home meets occupants' comfort needs with minimum occupant input; and

the ultra-healthy home, where narrow environmental conditions are maintained to address medical requirements (such as allergies).

In spite of these anticipated new responsibilities, today's programmable thermostat has been notably unsuccessful at achieving its original goal of reliably saving significant heating and cooling energy."

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