Acomni: an alternative smart thermostat interface to aid end users to visualize energy and cost tradeoffs

Home energy made up nearly 25% of all energy consumed in the US in 2010, and 31% of this energy is estimated to come from home heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Currently, the inputs available to a homeowner (temperature set points) make it difficult, if not impossible, to understand the long-term energy consumption and/or cost. This paper presents Acomni, a smart thermostat that enables users to immediately visualize these energy/temperature tradeoffs, and make well informed decisions. Moreover, users are provided with the ability to specify a cost constraint and the Acomni thermostat will provide users with an optimized set point schedule to achieve these constraints.