It was a hot summer, and the air conditioning kept crashing.
In exchange for a more substantial energy-bill savings (5-10% of the summer's air-conditioning tariff), participating customers agree to an "Auto-Tune" of their Nest, a three-week adjustment period where the algorithms plan a regime that routinely rejiggers air-conditioning use during the day.
If humans are still around when and if it happens it is quite likely we would survive these massive changes with air conditioning in the summer and a lot of heating in winter.
Mr Liddell argues that the increased use of air conditioning, particularly in summer, is also leading to much higher fuel bills.
Brandon Belt, a first baseman for the San Francisco Giants, says he relished his stint in San Jose in 2010, even though the low rungs of minor-league baseball meant seven-hour bus rides to games and balky clubhouse air-conditioning in the summer.
But Nest's more exotic services focus directly on tackling the demands of air-conditioning a home in summer.
Miami, for example, has found that planting trees can help reduce air conditioning bills, for example, in summer months.
Several utilities offer their customers the ability to receive discounts in summer months in exchange for power companies being able to temporarily suspend air conditioning service.
"Hot and muggy weather and continuous heavy use of air conditioning remain the single largest factor affecting peak electricity demand in the summer, " Edward Schwerdt, president of the power coordinating council, told reporters on a conference call.
You should also be aware that almost none of us have air conditioning: our peak energy demand is very definitely in these cold winter snaps, not in summer for cooling.
You could be driving home from the office on a hot summer day and with a simple tweet or post to Facebook, you are able to turn on the central air conditioning in your home to ensure a comfortable 72 degrees when you arrive back.
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