Connected Savings

Free

Earth Networks’ Connected Savings platform is the first to integrate big weather data, connected thermostats and smart home devices, and utility meter data – a fundamentally different smart home approach that provides consumers with unmatched value and analytics to minimize the impact of weather on their energy usage

Smart home technology today is restricted to what is happening in the home, but 50% of a home’s energy usage is driven by the weather.  Earth Networks operates the world’s largest network of weather and atmospheric sensors, providing a unique trove of hyper-local and real-time data, which allows Connected Savings to extend the ‘smart home’ outside of the home to create a “smarter consumer” by integrating data from its weather network with the most robust IoT-centric ecosystem of smart home partners in the industry, including Honeywell, ecobee, Emerson and Comcast, and other connected device makers as well as utility and energy providers.

The Connected Savings platform is designed for consumers seeking energy savings, comfort and custom insights; utilities looking to meet demand response and energy efficiency goals with increased customer engagement and value; and OEM partners that manufacture smart home devices. Connected Savings delivers several key benefits to:

·       Consumers who can save energy and money from weather optimization since the service determines and automatically heats or cools the home given the weather that day and how that specific home responds to the weather.  That energy efficiency can save up to $125/year for the homeowner and keep homeowners more comfortable.

·       Utilities that benefit from a comprehensive demand response management system (DRMS) aggregates device data, along with smart meter and Earth Networks own weather data so that utilities to create tailored DR strategies. The embedded predictive algorithms produce highly accurate capacity and load forecasts to drive DR event planning and management, and its scalable, flexible architecture fits the utility DR and EE needs of today while allowing for expanded capabilities in the future.

·       IoT smart home vendors that can deliver enhanced value to customers through unique insights into energy use and costs by partnering with Connected Savings.

Connected Savings delivers significant energy savings and enhanced comfort to homeowners by integrating Internet of Things (IoT)-connected smart home devices with hyper-local data from Earth Networks’ network of weather sensors (the world’s largest).

A key unique aspect of Connected Savings that enables these benefits is that it has the capability to build a thermodynamic model of the homeowner’s house using our weather data and meter and/or thermostat data to understand how much energy it takes the home to attain and maintain any desired temperature—under every weather condition. Connected Savings then takes the homeowner’s thermostat schedule and tomorrow’s forecasted weather for the neighborhood and optimize the schedule each day using a thermodynamic model of the home. This approach minimizes energy use while hitting the homeowner’s desired temperature so they can remain comfortable while saving energy. It’s an innovative patented use of big weather data, energy-use data and Wi-Fi thermostats that seamlessly boosts energy efficiency through weather optimization.

Each month homeowners receive a Home Energy ScoreCard report personalized to their energy usage and shows when and how energy was used. The offering analyzes last month’s weather, how many days were sunny, windy, hot and cold. Then it reviews how much energy the homeowner used and determine how their usage compares to similar neighbors in the same climate zone. Connected Savings also dynamically scores the home’s energy efficiency by how the home responded to different weather conditions. For instance, if the home had abnormally high AC usage on a mild day, Connected Savings’ algorithms lets the homeowner know they may have an insulation problem and tips on how to fix it. Customers also receive actionable tips to further reduce energy based on actual usage behavior, along with insights on the homeowner’s energy profile by breaking usage into three types: HVAC, variable and base. 

The benefits to the installer are that enrollment is easy through a mobile-optimized portal that the homeowner or installer can use, a digital process that includes just a couple simple steps. Earth Networks has assembled the most robust Internet of Things (IoT)-centric ecosystem of smart home partners, including Nest, Samsung SmartThings, Comcast, Honeywell, Accelerated Innovations, ecobee and utility providers. 

This value of Connected Savings to all of these stakeholders is evident through several recent announcements:

o   Connected Savings’ launches integration with Nest, Honeywell, SmartThings to deliver benefits to consumers, IoT partners and utility providers

o   National Grid released a study finding Connected Savings delivers 3x higher consumer energy efficiency, with 11.4 percent more saved on home cooling when its capabilities integrate with a connected thermostat.

o   Comcast and Earth Networks bring big data intelligence to Xfinity Home users

o   Earth Networks, Icontrol partner to deliver intelligent home energy management.