Tools to Reduce Energy Use and Costs in Homes

Honeywell and Opower will initially launch a platform that includes a Web-connected programmable thermostat to help utilities boost energy efficiency programs, driving deeper savings in the home and maximizing return on investment. The technology will measure, analyze and report homeowners’ electricity use, including detailed information from the thermostat, which controls heating and cooling systems — equipment that accounts for almost 50 percent of all residential energy consumption.
Utility customers will be able to access the data from a Web portal or mobile application to get a clear and comprehensive snapshot of their energy use and spending. The technology will also suggest and automatically implement cost-saving changes, and will present equivalent data from similar families in the same geography to provide a benchmark and additional context.
"Empowering consumers to adjust how they use electricity starts with awareness,” said   Jeremy Eaton, vice president of energy solutions for Honeywell. “But it doesn’t end there — they also need easy-to-use controls to implement changes and make them stick. We believe Honeywell and Opower will successfully combine information, motivation and control to help homeowners reduce energy consumption and costs.”
The companies plan to pilot the new product with select utility partners over the next few months. The platform may eventually support utilities’ efficiency programs for light commercial customers, as well as demand response programs, which help temporarily reduce electricity consumption when energy use spikes and strains the grid. Honeywell also plans to sell similar products through residential contractors and retailers. 
"Honeywell is the clear leader in manufacturing reliable control technology and it’s a brand trusted by millions all across the world” said Daniel Yates, CEO and co-founder of Opower. “We are very excited to work with Honeywell to help us extend our platform into the home, and deliver even more value to our utility partners and their customers.”
Opower is the nation’s leading energy information platform, currently delivering data to nearly 10 million residential consumers. The platform combines cutting-edge behavioral science with patent-pending data analytics to cost-effectively deliver actionable energy insights to millions of homes. Opower’s products have helped consumers save over $50 million dollars on their energy bills to date, and the company projects that number to be more over $100 million as it progresses towards its goal of one terawatt hour of savings by the end of 2012.
Honeywell is a global leader in energy efficiency, with control technology in more than 150 million homes, 10 million buildings and thousands of industrial plants around the world. In addition to a full-line of home comfort products available through heating and air-conditioning professionals and retail outlets, the company has helped more than 5 million homeowners decrease their energy use through its work with utilities, which includes designing, marketing and implementing energy efficiency and demand response programs.