The Nest Thermostat

As the world of technology expands, many options are becoming more accessible
to individuals with a myriad of disabilities. A majority of companies nowadays are
equipping their new products with Bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi compatibility, thus
allowing individuals to personally operate switches and other devices (i.e. lights,
door locks, thermostats, etc.) in their home—while being away from home.
Individuals are able to do so via their smartphones, tablets, and computers. This
blog will focus on the intelligent thermostat Nest and the great benefits it provides individuals, especially within the disabled community.

The Nest is an intelligent thermostat, meaning it learns the occupants’ habits, thus it is
able to sense motion and turn the heat on and off accordingly; this is a great
advantage in regards to energy as it doesn’t run the heat when not necessary (i.e.
when occupants are away from home.)  As the Nest quickly learns the habits
of the building’s occupants, such as when they return from work, it would kick the
heat on in enough time to warm the home prior to the occupants return.  The Nest is aesthetically pleasing with its sleek and simple design, and is easily installed and comes with the necessary tools to do so; only requirement is Wi-Fi at the place of installation.

Upon installation, the occupants will manually set their preferred temperature by simply turning the dial surrounding the device.  After about a week the Nest will have learned the desired temperature(s), allowing individuals to not have to worry about adjusting the temperature so they can be comfortable in their own home, as well as not having to worry about wasting any energy.

This product will especially be helpful to wheelchair users who cannot reach a thermostat, or others with poor motor skills who struggle operating a standard thermostat and all of its small, hard-to-push buttons.  If for any reason this intelligent thermostat is inaccessible, the temperature and settings may be simply altered by all occupants via their smartphone, tablet, or computer– anytime, anywhere.