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Ontario giving away free smart thermostatsWell it's technically not free, since the money comes from the CAP and Trade income. Anyway if you live live in anything but a multi unit dwelling you may be able to get a free smart thermostat. It's limited to 100K homes. Ontario is offering them, installed, also at no cost, along with free home energy reviews to 100,000 households in a bid to help cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Environment and Climate Change Minister Chris Ballard unveiled the $40-million program Wednesday through the new Green Ontario Fund, which was launched with $377 million in revenues from the province’s cap-and-trade program.
Aside from saving on the retail cost of a smart thermostat — this falls within the range of $200 to $350, depending on the model — Ballard said parents will want to get in on this to cut their heating and air-conditioning costs, which kids often have a hand in increasing. » www.thestar.com/news/que ··· ram.html |
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mr weather
Premium Member
join:2002-02-27
Mississauga, ON |
My local utility had a similar program a year or two ago but required you to connect to them 24/7 so they could adjust your thermostat during peak electricity demand.
No frickin' way anyone else but me or my family is controlling the thermostat in my home! |
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to bobnoxe
Costing $400 dollars per device AND its controlled by the government.
Brilliant! |
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 shaner
Premium Member
join:2000-10-04
Calgary, AB |
shaner
Premium Member
2017-Aug-31 8:50 pm
I see that the new Nest E was launched today. $229 Canadian. Is it on the list of approved models? |
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MichelR
join:2011-07-03
Trois-Rivieres, QC |
to mr weather
said by mr weather:My local utility had a similar program a year or two ago but required you to connect to them 24/7 so they could adjust your thermostat during peak electricity demand.
No frickin' way anyone else but me or my family is controlling the thermostat in my home! That's something different. Also, I think they're excluding condos and apartments because they generally use electric baseboards. Those thermostats only work with a furnace (except through a workaround... Can't remember the name). A company in the Montreal area has finally made a smart thermostat for electric baseboards (Stelpro) but I think they're relatively new. I'm thinking of getting those for my condos. |
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MaynardKrebsWe did it. We heaved Steve. Yipee.
Premium Member
join:2009-06-17 |
to shaner
The Ecobee is a superior product. |
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to bobnoxe
This is a waste of money. I installed an Ecobee3 last year, and it has saved me nothing when taking weather into account. It's cool looking, and did save me from a frozen house while I was on vacation by sending me an alert email. |
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dks01
join:2016-12-29
Owen Sound, ON |
to bobnoxe
Signed up for one. It's popular enough that they won't call until the new year. I just one one that works with my iPhone. |
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said by dks01:Signed up for one. It's popular enough that they won't call until the new year. I just one one that works with my iPhone. Same - signed up last night. It said they'd contact me in 2018. I don't know if I'll get the NEST or EcoBee.... I'll have to investigate which will play nicer with existing home automation stuff I have for lighting, garage door, back gate, etc. |
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 ·Start.ca
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to shaner
They mention Honeywell, Nest and Ecobee, but no specific models, the new Nest E probably would be ok, it offers the same control features as the Nest.
Suppose a house doesn't have wifi, or internet access, having any one of these WiFi enabled devices is a waste of money. And as for the person in the story which complained about kids playing with the temperature, for a fraction of the cost you can install a lockable box over a thermostat, and a low cost programmable thermostat would work just as well.
The announcement is pre-election green washing, back when the fit program was introduced if the government geared the program towards Urban home owners and offered incentives to install solar (and or thermal) panels tax payers might have seen a reduction in power rates because no hugely expensive transmission upgrades would have to be installed and large government friendly companies would not be reaping massive profits at the expense of both rate and tax payers.
This announcement is a drop in a leased bucket that no-one can afford. |
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said by Thane_Bitter:The announcement is pre-election green washing, back when the fit program was introduced if the government geared the program towards Urban home owners and offered incentives to install solar (and or thermal) panels tax payers might have seen a reduction in power rates because no hugely expensive transmission upgrades would have to be installed and large government friendly companies would not be reaping massive profits at the expense of both rate and tax payers. You're missing the big purpose of this program - it's obvious what it actually is (and has nothing to do with "green washing"). The real part of this program is getting their people in your home to do the energy audit. Most people wouldn't bother to sign up for a free energy audit (or would even be against it) -- but many/most will if they get a freebie for it.... And what does the energy audit do - it tells you "Your windows are leaky, your furnace needs an upgrade, your insulation is sub-part, and you need weatherstripping and caulking done if you want to make your home more efficient and save on your utility bills".... What does that do? It drives the entire home renovation/upgrade industry -- 100,000 people or more will get a $200 "bauble" and in return most of them will spend likely $500-$5000 doing renovations afterward in an attempt to save a few $ each month on their utility bills. That's a huge return on investment in the economy. |
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The program seems geared towards those that don't have money in the first place, hence why they haven't replaced their thermostats.  |
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 AnavSarcastic Llama? Naw, Just Acerbic
Premium Member
join:2001-07-16
Dartmouth, NS
1 edit |
to bobnoxe
According to most posters here, the thermostats are smarter than any Ontario Premier in the last 10 years. Doesn't say much about the voters eh! ;-P |
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mr weather
Premium Member
join:2002-02-27
Mississauga, ON |
to bobnoxe
Nothing like voters being bought off with their own money.  |
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 El QuintronFully Magnetized
Premium Member
join:2008-04-28
Tronna
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to Hydraglass
A couple of things;
I bought the Nest on Day 1, so I've been following the "growth" of the device for the past few years, I was mostly interested in the remotely controlled capacities of the device, but the device itself (at least before Google bought it and stopped giving a fuck) aggressively promotes energy savings through it's learning feature (something that was really difficult to turn off) and it also promotes signing on to getting controlled by the utility, for meager savings.
I'm not a conspiracy type by a longshot, but my initial impression is that these devices are there to collect energy data, and promote the idea that the utility should be controlling your AC unit. |
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vincom
join:2009-03-06
Bolton, ON |
to bobnoxe
i signed up for 1 yesterday, they will install it and do a free energy audit of your home and to give u tips on saving energy....like keep windows closed in the winter
wont know until sept/oct if im eligible, then i can get rid of the hydro one thermostat i got years ago under their other program but since cancelled |
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to Anav
said by Anav:According to most posters hear the thermostats are smarter than any Ontario Premier in the last 10 years.
Doesn't say much about the voters eh! ;-P Doesn't say much about the premiers either.  |
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·Start.ca
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to Anav
Yes, you see a thermostat cost money and does something useful, whereas the Ontario Premier costs money and makes everything useless and expensive. Its all about Toronto, they are the ones that kept her around despite the utter incompetence.
Anyways I was curious about the energy audit, it doesn't sound like they actually do a leak test on the home but its just a quick walk around looking for obvious issues.
Anyone notice the parenting fail in the Star story? The one about the kid that cranks up the AC when the parents aren't around and how the parents are then notified and then have to reset the temperature remotely. Stupid, they should have turned the heat all the way up. |
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