Overview
Fret no more about a frigid office or a sweltering apartment building. CrowdComfort, a new Boston-based startup, has come up with a web-based application that lets users input how they feel about the temperature of the area they are located, working out the hopefully happy medium.
CrowdComfort bills itself as the first crowd-sourced thermostat. The app is installed on users' smartphones, where they can choose from five options (very hot, hot, just right, cold, freezing) about the temperature level in the particular space they are occupying. The responses are culled together and analysed, and a temperature recommended for each floor.
The app's purpose is not solely to make building occupants more comfortable, though. The developers' larger goal is to reduce energy wastefulness through user feedback. Building maintenance can reduce costs and wastefulness while also providing more comfort to those in the building.
CrowdComfort follows in the trend of recent cleanweb applications. Cleanweb refers to web applications and technology startups with the goal of improving productivity and efficiency while reducing energy consumption and waste.
"Think of it as a gateway drug used to hook people on energy consumption awareness," said project leader Galen Nelson in a pitch meeting at VERGE Boston.
Story via Fast Company. Image via garrettc via photopin cc.