After teasing us for the last couple of weeks, it seems like the warmer weather is finally here to stay. For residents at The Batch Yard, this means it’s time for swimming at the pool, summer-time grilling at one of our six outdoor grills, hanging out with friends on the roof deck, and watching midnight movies poolside. On the downside, it also means potentially higher energy bills due to increased air conditioning usage. Luckily, one of The Batch Yard’s in-apartment amenities is the sleek, stylish, and user-friendly Nest Learning Thermostat, packed with all kinds of features aimed at keeping our residents cool while keeping their energy bills low.
The easiest way to ensure that you are cooling your apartment efficiently is by looking out for the little green leaf on the Nest display or mobile app when setting a desired temperature. This leaf appears when you have selected an energy-saving temperature. Think of it like keeping your car at 55 mph on the highway to save gas. The difference of 1 degree probably won’t feel like much to you, but it could save you up to 5% on your energy bill!
While the ability to control your Nest through a mobile app is helpful, remembering to set your thermostat to away each time you leave your apartment can be tedious. The Nest Auto-Away feature uses the device’s internal motion sensor to determine when you are not home and will automatically turn itself down (or up) to save energy. To improve the accuracy of this feature, you can also turn on Home/Away Assist in the mobile app. This setting allows the Nest to use your phone’s location to help it determine whether you are home or not.
Find out how much energy you are saving using all these great features by viewing Nest’s Energy History. From the mobile app or website, you can view detailed reports of how long and how often your air conditioning was operating each day. You can even view a full 10-day history to determine which days your energy usage is the highest. Use this information to set goals for lower energy use in the following weeks. Find out if simply changing your set temperature a few degrees results in big savings over time!
The best resource for getting the most out of your Nest Learning Thermostat is the Nest website. It has detailed instructions on how to use all of the features listed above and has all kinds of tutorials and videos to help with troubleshooting in the rare case that something doesn’t seem to be working correctly. Of course, you can always reach out to our friendly Maintenance Team if you require any additional assistance.