Nest: A Review

Because we're exciting party animals, when Derek and I were perusing last year's Black Friday sales, we immediately zeroed in on the sexiest product on the market:

That's right:  A Nest Learning Thermostat.  And before you turn away because surely this has got to be the most boring post ever, please:  Don't.  This thing is AMAZING, and we love it like a fourth child that saves us energy and money and always does what we say, so actually not like a child at all.  It's an anti-child, if you will.

I have a curious relationship with our Nest, in that the traits that make us love it are the same ones that make it super creepy to me.  It's like Santa in that it sees you when you're sleeping and it knows when you're awake, except instead of breaking into your home, it monitors the activity inside the house and does things like turning itself down when we're not home and "learning" our personal patterns as to when we turn it up and down and to what temperature, then automatically does it for us.  You can also control it via your phone, which Derek has used many times both because I can never seem to remember to manually set it to "Away" when I'm leaving the house and to mess with me by turning the heat down when he's not home but I am, which is a very strange kind of a prank, really.

When we take trips in the winter, we always turn our heat way, way down, which in the past meant we came home to a decidedly chilly house, because nothing says "Welcome home, family!" like getting out of the cold only to go into the cold.  Now, however, Derek will turn it on via his phone when we're a few minutes away, so by the time we get home, the heat is on and the temperature is rising when we step inside.  It's heavenly.

Another delightful feature is the monthly report Nest emails us.  Here are just a few neato things contained within the email we received for August:

Since October 2011, all Nest Thermostat schedules have saved:

kWh

That's enough energy to power the laptops of every high school student in the U.S. for about 4 years.

Here's how you did:

This month you used 25 fewer hours than last month. -25 hrs July 88 hrs August 63 hrs

A look at your Leafs:

This month, the average Nest Thermostat owner in your area earned 14 Leafs. Here's how many you earned:

In August you earned: 26 Nest Leafs 6 more than July In August you're in the top: 30% of Nesters in your area This year you've earned: 223 Nest Leafs

Let your friends know how many Leafs you earned.

Two things about that last graphic:  Does it drive me the tiniest bit crazy that they call them "Leafs" instead of "Leaves"?  YOU BETCHA.  A tiny piece of me dies each time I see that.

As for our household only being in the top 30% of Nesters in our area, well.  Top 30% is obviously not good enough for the Crislers, not even close, so we're working on moving up through the ranks.  I realize that there are a bunch of factors that likely go into this, such as the size of your house, how energy efficient it is, etc.  No matter; if you're the tiniest bit competitive about this kind of thing (Sports?  I couldn't care less; not competitive at all.  Energy efficiency?  WE MUST AND WILL PREVAIL.), Nest is a terrific motivator to be less of a leech on the environment.

Why, hello, Nest!

Oh, and that's just another Leaf earned.  Take that, 30%!

If ever you decide to purchase a Nest of your own, don't forget to check with your energy company for rebates:  We got a sweet one from Alliant, which helped offset the initial cost.

Now, if only they could come with some kind of game to earn "Drops" or something for our water usage.  Someone get on that, please, because I know we'd be way higher than 30% in that competition.

Waste Not: Energy and Paper Products

As I'm not an authority on all things Energy-related by any stretch of the imagination, I'm just going to point you toward a favorite resource of mine I found on our energy provider's website:

101 Easy Ways to Save Energy

If you're an energy-saving expert, I would bet that there's at least a couple things in that link you either hadn't thought of or aren't already doing; if you're more of a novice:  Don't be overwhelmed.  We've been slowly decreasing our waste over the past several years, executing one or two new waste-reduction measures at a time.  Maybe pick one of the things in that list, and do that.  You'll find how easy it is, try something else new in a month or two, marvel at how simple these changes are and how good it feels to waste less, then before long you'll be that annoying person that sneaks into your friends' houses to install aerators on all their faucets and sorts their trash for recycling.  IT'S GONNA BE GREAT.



Now, how about a list about paper?

•   I won't talk about all the wasted paper that comes home in one of our children's backpack (SO.MUCH.PAPER.), but I will mention another of our children who, if you look at the backside of most of his preschool creations, you'll find junk mail and such the preschool teacher is obviously reusing.  How much paper do we immediately throw away after opening the mail?  I've started setting aside the paper that's only been printed on one side for our children to use, as they're heavily into coloring and painting and creative wastefulness.

• Paper towels.  This is one we've been working on decreasing, although I do still keep a roll under the sink.  My darling mother was kind enough to buy me some Norwex cleaning cloths, which I use for cleaning the bathroom sinks, mirrors, all our windows, and just about any other surface other than the toilet.  I'm ashamed to say I still use paper towels on our toilet, because I'm a little eeked out about using my fancy cloths on there, especially with three males in the house whose aim is often less than stellar.  I'm working up to using some of our cheap terry cloths on the toilets- I got them from Wal-Mart around eight years ago, and they've held up really well.  After all, if people can wash cloth diapers in the washing machine, I suppose I can handle washing a cloth used to clean our toilets.  I guess.  Probably.  We'll see.

• Napkins. We, apparently, are a nasty, nasty family, as in general we neither own nor use even paper napkins, although we do on occasion make use of those dreaded paper towels if we're eating spaghetti or pizza.  Enter cloth napkins!  If you're like me and have a fabric stash, it's the easiest thing in the world to cut them into squares and hem them.  Or you can get something like a set of 12 napkins for $12 at Wal-Mart for all you fertile Catholic families.  Cloth napkins have the added benefit of instantly making every family meal feel uber-fancy.  I suggest you obey any subsequent urges to start wearing a monocle or carrying a cane for twirling around.  (Sidenote:  it would seem that all my notions of class and fanciness come from Mr. Peanut.  I'm choosing not to ponder too deeply what this says about me.)

• Kleenex.  First of all, please be aware that I know this is where I will lose some of you.  I may not have known that three days ago, however, had I not waved around my pretty embroidered handkerchief at supper with friends and seen some of them cringe away from me in horror.  I see nothing wrong with using my handkerchief when it's for allergies or for when I'm cold or working out and my nose-faucet forgets how to turn itself off.  Rest assured, when I'm actually sick I still use disposable tissues.  (And I wash my hands a lot on a daily basis, okay?)  But really, I've watched my grandpa use a handkerchief for years, and let's be honest, the world would most likely be a much better place if everyone were a little more like Edgar Von Soosten.  I should note that I have not switched the rest of our family over to handkerchiefs.  I have mixed feelings about our children using hankies, although it would probably be more sanitary than some of the methods of snot removal they currently employ.  And you are welcome for not describing those in detail.

• Coffee Filters.  I've been looking around my house over the past week, trying to identify paper goods we can replace with their more economical and ecologically-friendly alternatives, and coffee filters was one I just noticed this morning.  I know those filters go into my compost pile when I'm done, but still- it feels more ecologically and financially sound not to purchase them in the first place.  A quick google search led me to mesh filters, which can apparently be found at Wal-Mart and on Amazon for $5 or less (or a lot more, because I guess some people just can't stand not to pay $60 for coffee filters- thanks, Sur la Table!).  Do any of you have any experience with these mesh-style filters?  Do they work okay?  Any complaints about or praise for them?  And yes, I know there are "environmentally friendly" paper coffee filters, but to me, those are still filters that are made from trees and had to be produced by some kind of machinery that uses some kind fuel to run.  I'm sure we could get into all kinds of debates regarding the worthiness of eco-friendly paper filters vs plastic-including mesh filters, but I don't know enough to possibly participate, much less win, this debate, so... someone go research that for me.  Please.

• Other stuff.  Looking around my house, the only other major sources of paper consumption appear to be toilet paper (which isn't going anywhere, okay?  Well, I suppose it is, right down the toilet, but you know- we're not getting rid of it.  We're just not.) and books, and the only way you'll suggest I switch exclusively to ebooks is if you've been searching for some passive aggressive way to end our friendship.  

Any other paper-replacing suggestions?  I have a feeling I have big blind spots where paper products are concerned, but they seem to be hiding from me, as blind spots are wont to do.  Help.