TORONTO — ecobee announced it has received OpenADR 2.0b certification for its smart thermostat from the OpenADR Alliance, a nonprofit corporation that fosters the development, adoption, and compliance of the OpenADR smart grid standard. The 2.0b certification provides for standardized communication between a utility and its customers to help improve energy savings and ease participation in demand response (DR) programs.

The market for smart thermostats is experiencing widespread adoption, said ecobee. According to Navigant Research, nearly 32 million smart thermostats will be installed worldwide by the year 2020. As this significant growth occurs, standardization is important to simplify DR programs and increase participation so homeowners and businesses can more easily save energy during high peak times.

“ecobee’s mission is to empower homeowners to achieve meaningful energy savings without sacrificing comfort,” said Stuart Lombard, CEO, ecobee. “OpenADR provides standards to simplify communication between the utility and the customer, delivering peak load reduction for utilities, savings and reliability for homeowners, and sustainability for the community.”

Designed for more sophisticated devices, OpenADR 2.0b supports most DR services and markets including commercial, industrial, and residential environments, enabling broad-based and automated participation in DR events.

“There is growing demand among utilities for OpenADR certified thermostats to support automated demand response programs for both residential and commercial customers,” said Barry Haaser, managing director, OpenADR Alliance. “It is exciting to see the innovative smart thermostat from ecobee enable new utility programs and a better customer experience through open standards.”

For more information, visit www.ecobee.com.

Publication date: 4/21/2014

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