Nest, the home automation firm bought by Google in January, is launching in UK this week- under the claim it can bring home energy prices down by up to 29%.
Co-founded by former Apple engineers and creators of the iPod, Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers, Nest has brought its Learning Thermostat, a programmer and a thermostat in one device, to the UK.
The launch means that British homeowners can use the Nest thermostat to automatically turn down the heat in their homes when they are away and control their heating from mobile phones.
In a press briefing, Nest said that the reason behind the UK launch is that there is “no good thermostat to make a dent into energy costs” and that 66 percent of the average UK energy bill is for heating homes.
“Lowering your heating by just one degree will save you £75 a year, but to really make a difference, you have to programme your thermostat and people are just not doing that,” Nest said. “Every year the average annual UK cost for household energy bills is £ 1,342, set to increase £100 a year.”
Nest claimed that heating costs can be reduced by between four and 29 percent with the Learning Thermostat. It has been reported that Nest has sold one million of the smart controllers so far in the US, though this hasn’t been confirmed by the company.
The Nest thermostat connects to a user’s WiFi network and to the Nest Heat Link, which goes right next to the boiler and talks to the thermostat. The Heat Link is powered by wired cables in the wall, which brings both power and data, and tell the boiler to turn on or off.