Creator of iPod Develops Thermostat to Save Energy

Tony Fadell, the inventor that pitched his idea of the iPod to Steve Jobs, recently left Apple to focus on green technologies.

Since last year, Fadell has been working on a home thermostat called Nest Labs. The thermostat, however, is no ordinary, traditional mercury-filled home thermostat we're all used to. Besides looking awfully modern and sleek, the Nest has more than just temperature adjustments to offer.

For starters, the round light-up device is programmed to help you save energy. As a result, it's going to save you money too. The biggest dilemma homeowners face is being absent while keeping their heating or air conditioning on. It's a waste of money, of course. Sure, you can also program your thermostat to adjust automatically, but the majority of existing thermostats require that you fiddle around with them for longer than you should. This is where Nest would come in.

As a learning thermostat, Nest learns and keeps track of when you turn it temperatures up and down. It remembers those adjustments in line with the particular times of day of when you change them. After giving it about a week, Nest will start doing that on its own for you.

Better yet, Nest is even built in with a motion sensor so that it can shift gears to away mode, turn it a couple degrees up or down, and adjust automatically when you're around again.

Another feature the learning thermostat comes with is built-in Wi-Fi. With the ability to connect to home networks, you can easily program Nest from anywhere you are. In fact, you can even program it straight from your Android or iPhone if you're not near a computer. Have the settings just the way you like it before coming home from work. Running late and forgot to tweak it? Pull it up on your phone later.

Besides just a futuristic look and smart functions, Nest also comes built-in with a rechargeable battery and requires but a mere 20 minutes for installation. Fadell is predicting that the average Nested household can cut up to 20 or 30 percent on their energy bills.

At $249, Nest will be released next month in November at hardware and electronics stores. At a time like this, the market for energy-saving technology is taking hold fast with rising costs in the economy, and Fadell sees it as the perfect opportunity to introduce smarter home improvement technologies.