Nest

Short description

This is a very US focused solutions, and it is hardly an app, but its transformative potential is significant. It is not an attempt not to make the invisible visible like so many other initiatives, but to make the important/boring/invisible attractive/interesting/visible. This shift is highly interesting and Matt Rogers carry what Apple does well into an area that is important (it is sad to see Apple totally ignore any significant contribution to sustainability by staying only in the entertainment business).

The app acknowledge the need for a new perspective when it comes to energy/homes is important and in an interview Matt said “"We're bringing design, great technology, and artificial intelligence learning to the most unsexy industry possible".

The slightly less fun part of the app is that it is very much focused only on saving money, not changing framework and support new smart solutions. Even if that is a good initial sale strategy (not scaring away the many Americans that don’t understand how serious the world’s, and in particular the US, overconsumption of energy is) it will be a challenge as structural change is needed, and this app could provide that by providing people and progressive policy makers and smart companies with the opportunity to use the data and network created to put pressure on policy makes and old fossil companies that fight to keep an unsustainable energy/building infrastructure.

Still there are early days and if the Nest becomes a success it is likely that many other good things will happen as the basic ideas with the company point in an interesting direction.

This is how the creators describe the app:
In fact, 10% of all U.S. energy is controlled by thermostats. That’s the equivalent of 1.7 billion barrels of oil per year. But in most homes the thermostat is an unassuming beige box. It doesn’t matter if it’s a manual or complicated programmable thermostat, we do with it what we’ve always done: get up, walk over to it, and change the temperature. Every few hours. Every day. 1,500 times a year. We still try to save energy, of course. We turn down the thermostat when we can, we don’t set it too high or low. But we’re human. We forget. Until we see our energy bills.”

Read more about the app here: http://www.nest.com/

The best with the app/supporting initiative

+ Getting design and user-friendliness into the building sector.
+ Challenging a sector that knows close to nothing about innovation.
+ Available both for iOS and Android

The weak parts of the app/supporting initiative

- Only about money at this stage, would be great to be able to see the GHG savings and other savings that are beyond the direct financial as well as the transformative potential in the building sector.
- Only for US
- No clear link to smart ways to make the building more energy efficient, or even provider of renewable energy through strategic investments.
- It could encourage un-smart lock-in in the building stock by creating a feeling among home owners of activity where it is really about making a very stupid system slightly less stupid.

What could accelerate this app/supporting initiative into a world changer?

➢ Linking the monetary savings to strategic re-investments
➢ Teaming up with other stakeholders to create a vision/road-map for buildings that are net producers of renewable electricity.