You’ve heard of learning thermometers. How about learning vents? Or learning lights? Seems like everything is smarter than a third-grader these days.
What happens if you add the word ‘smart’ to heating ventilation and air conditioning? One company, EcoVent, was in-vented (ha!) by a couple of drop-outs from the defense industry. The Boston entrepreneurs won $6.9 million in financing from Emerson Climate Technologies. The company says it has $1 million in orders already.
The concept behind EcoVents is to replace the open-or-closed mechanical vents that allow you to warm or cool one room in a multi-zone ducted HVAC system. Their product measures air flow and temperature, wirelessly, and automatically adjusts to the desired temperature. This means you can have different settings for kitchen, study area, playroom and bedrooms, for instance. Of course it can be controlled on your cell phone.
Installing the system– sensors, mobile controls and vents that snap into place— in a typical four-bedroom home would cost $2,000. The company says this is about half the price of a traditional zoned system. It’s also an energy-saving system. By adjusting the temperature more precisely, homeowners can save 20-40 percent of their monthly bill.
Eventually, the founders hope to have the EcoVent system generate reports on energy consumption and indoor air quality.
Okay, so that’s a useful in-vent-ion (sorry!).
Here’s another, more unusual smart device. When an American entrepreneur spent a winter in Denmark, he was struck by the fact that Danes get only seven hours of sunlight per day. (No wonder Hamlet was gloomy.) Originally from Boulder, Colorado, the entrepreneur, Kelton Ray Minor might have been motivated to help the Danes but he’s also created an interesting app for the rest of us who suffer from SAD— Seasonal Affective Disorder.
His invention is a lighting adjustor that can be micromanaged to offer shades that gradually glow, as at dawn, or produce a steady stream of summer-in-the-Arctic endorphins. The entrepreneurial Sunn Light is not yet in production, yet Minor managed to raise $117,000— double his goal— through crowdsourcing. Apparently there are a lot of woebegone folks staggering through dim winters.
Sunn’s corporate promotional video asks us to imagine our lights telling time through subtle changes in color and brightness . . . .
«Imagine if your lights put you in touch with the rhythm of the sun to help ease your transition into the day to promote alertness while you work and help you shine through the winter blues . . . or brought the sunset into your space [sic] glowing warm at night to help you relax. »
No argument, there’s a powerful connection between light and mood. Just walk down the street during the first warm day of spring and note the difference in people’s greetings, voices, gaits . . . . Can this power be harnessed by an app?
Well. All we can say for now is, It’s cheaper than drugs (at least a prescription for anti-depressants)!