Smart thermostat
In 2011, Nest Labs developed the Nest Learning Thermostat. The Nest Thermostat attempted to reduce home energy consumption by addressing the problems with programmable thermostats through the use of better technology. This new technology included the implementation of sensors, algorithms, machine learning, and cloud computing. These technologies learn the behaviors and preferences of the occupants, and adjust the temperature up or down to make the occupant comfortable when they are home and to save energy when they are away. Additionally, the Nest Thermostat connects to the home Wi-Fi. This allows users to change the temperature, adjust the schedule, and check energy usage from a smartphone or laptop. All of these features were part of Nest's goal to create an easy to use thermostat that saves users energy and money.
Thermostat
Newer digital thermostats have no moving parts to measure temperature and instead rely on thermistors or other semiconductor devices such as a resistance thermometer (resistance temperature detector). Typically one or more regular batteries must be installed to operate it, although some so-called "power stealing" digital thermostats use the common 24 volt AC circuits as a power source, but will not operate on thermopile powered "millivolt" circuits used in some furnaces. Each has an LCD screen showing the current temperature, and the current setting. Most also have a clock, and time-of-day and even day-of-week settings for the temperature, used for comfort and energy conservation. Some advanced models have touch screens, or the ability to work with home automation or building automation systems.