Feb 9 2016
An Earth Networks analysis found that data from its neighborhood located WeatherBug weather sensors significantly improves the accuracy and precision of its home energy modeling, enabling the superior control and optimization capabilities of WeatherBug Home.
WeatherBug Home delivers improvements of 26% for HVAC runtime and higher accuracy predictions for HVAC load and indoor temperatures compared to other weather networks with fewer sensors – resulting in greater energy efficiency, comfort and cost savings for consumers.
The comprehensive analysis covered 217 unique postal codes and 5 ASHRAE Climate Zones for 500 thermostats from four device manufacturers - Ecobee, Emerson, Honeywell and Radio Thermostat of America – for winter, summer and shoulder seasons in 2015. WeatherBug Home models were run against two different data sets, WeatherBug neighborhood level weather sensors located on average within 5.97 kM of these 500 homes, and the National Weather Service weather sensors, located on average within 23.03kM of the homes. That distance is representative of network density difference between WeatherBug, which operates 10,000 commercial grade weather stations, primarily in residential areas, and the National Weather Service, which has approximately 1,200 stations, primarily at airports.
In addition to greater spatial resolution, the model also measured the impact of the greater temporal resolution of WeatherBug data, which produces real-time weather sensor measurements versus 20 to 60 minute refresh rates for the other data set, and the greater depth of weather data measured, notably solar irradiance, which measures the strength of the sun hitting a home, a key factor driving the required cooling or heating needed to maintain a given setpoint temperature in the home.
Earth Networks determined that its denser, neighborhood located sensor network resulted in: WeatherBug Home’s:
- Higher accuracy predicting HVAC load and indoor temperatures
- 26% improved HVAC runtime prediction
- 8% ambient temperature prediction improvement
“We pride ourselves on delivering the most accurate weather and energy analytics to our consumer and enterprise customers. We have achieved this goal by ensuring we have a weather sensor on average within 6 kilometers of US homes,” said Bob Marshall, chief executive officer, Earth Networks. “We are excited by the results of the study, as it reaffirms that WeatherBug Home delivers more accurate energy usage predictions, and a compelling value proposition for consumers and utilities.”
In addition to the analysis of internal weather network data, leading utility provider National Grid recently announced the results of a residential pilot, finding that consumers who integrated WeatherBug Home’s HVAC control and optimization capabilities with their connected thermostat saved 16.5% electricity when cooling their home as compared to 5.1% HVAC savings from a connected thermostat only –-- saving 11.4% more in HVAC energy. The independent study reaffirmed that WeatherBug Home is leading the industry by delivering greater consumer energy efficiency and intelligent demand response to utilities beyond what has previously been possible.