SmartZone

Programmable thermostats work well during the times of year when temperatures are consistently hot or cold. You can set your thermostat to the appropriate heat or cool mode and forget about it. But they aren't as effective nor convenient when fluctuating temperatures are the norm. Home owners and businesses are forced to repeatedly change the modes to adjust for each day's conditions. Recent weather across much of the country has provided an example of the unpredictable temperatures the fall and spring seasons bring. These conditions are when smart thermostats are true heroes of energy efficiency and your nerves.

A new startup company called Honest Buildings is striving to heat up the competition between buildings to promote making more of them green. The company has created a web site which aggregates data from a variety of sources including public databases, building owners, and companies which provide green products and services to create transparency and go-to reference for green building information. Their ultimate vision is to create a site where potential building space lessors could compare buildings to find those with lower energy costs due to energy efficiency technologies used within them. They also aim to provide a system which enables building owners to distribute RFPs and contractors and service providers to respond them for energy efficiency projects such as installing building energy management systems.