Comcast-Earth Networks Partner To Help Cut Xfinity Home Users' Energy Costs

Comcast announced a partnership with Earth Networks’ WeatherBug Home software that's designed to help Xfinity Home customers lower heating and cooling costs by reducing energy use. WeatherBug Home provides data and analytics for Xfinity Home’s EcoSaver tool that learns the heating and cooling patterns of a home and makes automatic adjustments to the thermostat, said the companies. Earth Networks processes 25 terabytes of “hyper-local,” real-time weather data daily for 20 million unique consumers, combining data from neighborhood-located weather sensors and a home’s HVAC usage to a build a unique thermodynamic model of each home’s energy usage, Earth Networks Chief Marketing Officer Leslie Ferry emailed us. Earth Networks has deployed more than 10,000 commercial-grade weather sensors, primarily in residential areas, said Ferry. On average, a weather station is located within six kilometers of U.S. homes, “so we can more precisely determine the impact of weather on a homes’ energy usage,” she said. Consumers can opt out of a single event or scenes programmed with EcoSaver, said Ferry. The cost of heating and cooling can account for almost half of an overall household utility bill, and integrating WeatherBug Home with a connected thermostat can provide 16.5 percent savings on home cooling, said Daniel Herscovici, general manager-Xfinity Home, in a statement. Integration with WeatherBug data will add more information to help Xfinity tracking tools “become more accurate and effective for users,” said Herscovici. Intelligent learning, coupled with Earth Networks’ modeling, delivers cost savings to consumers and energy efficiency and demand response to meet utility mandates, said the company. Comcast also announced new devices for the Works with Xfinity Home certification program: August Smart Lock, Chamberlain MyQ garage controller, Lutron Caseta wireless controller and dimmer, and Nest Learning Thermostat.