Owning a smart thermostat is an important step to completing your smart home - not only will it simplify your life by intelligently warming and cooling you home, but it will save you money in the long run, too.

Early Thermostat Innovations

With the Industrial Revolution and later technological advances in the 20th century, it became possible to heat and cool buildings and homes in an effective way. The invention of the electric thermostat in 1883 revolutionized the concept of temperature control, and although the first designs were created to regulate the temperature of chicken incubators, the electric thermostat was here to stay and would soon become incorporated into indoor heating and cooling systems around the world. The first electric thermostats were essentially single-function devices that allowed for a specific temperature to be maintained with a fair degree of accuracy. You might think that thermostats capable of doing more than that would be a far later development, but amazingly, the first programmable electric thermostat was invented over 100 years ago. In 1906, the Electric Heat Regulator Company, today known as Honeywell, introduced the very first programmable thermostat called the Jewell. This simple, yet innovative, device was based on a clock and allowed the user to set a cooler temperature at night that would automatically be raised to a higher temperature by the clock the next morning. The 20th century saw many more advances in thermostat technology. The programming capabilities became more and more elaborate, and the functions became more comprehensive. By the 1980s, it was possible to set different temperatures for different days and different times of the day, and by the 2000s, thermostats were commonly using touchscreen technology.

Smart Thermostats Arrive

In 2007, the first truly "smart" thermostat was introduced by a company called Ecobee. Created by venture capitalist and engineer Stuart Lombard, this was the very first thermostat in history to offer Wi-Fi connectivity. The idea revolutionized the thermostat world and established Ecobee as a first-to-market industry leader. Competitors, however, were not far behind. Lombard's Ecobee soon found itself up against a new smart home thermostat manufacturer, Nest. Founded by former Apple engineers Tony Fedele and Matt Rogers, the startup quickly launched itself into the spotlight as tech reviewers gushed over the sleek, modern design of the Nest thermostat, as well as its innovative "learning" capabilities that allow the device to adjust temperature and energy usage based on owner preferences and energy costs. Next, thermostat manufacturing behemoth Honeywell threw its hat into the ring with a line of several different Wi-Fi capable smart home thermostats. Ecobee and Nest swiftly followed their initial releases with updated devices boasting even more comprehensive features in order to keep up with the near constant technological advances in the market.