How much does the average ecobee customer save anyway?

We always knew our customers were saving a whole lot of energy and money by using ecobee products, but we wanted to find out exactly how much.  The results not only make us feel warm and fuzzy inside (because we’re helping our customers reduce their environmental impact AND saving them money!), but they’re really quite compelling.  So compelling, in fact, that we couldn’t help but share our findings with you.  Here’s the scoop:

Our ecobee Energy Modeling team, headed up by Dr. Liu Yang, (Doctorate in Electrical Engineering from John’s Hopkins University) spent 18 months creating a model capable of predicting energy consumption based upon data supplied by the ecobee Smart Thermostat, our weather service and our customers. We took into account elements such as the size of home, number of occupants, type of HVAC system, solar radiation, weather and geographical coordinates. We selected a random sampling of homes and then used the data to compare to the same residential locations running a 72 degree hold on their thermostat versus how the customer was using the ecobee Smart Thermostat. The result was that the average ecobee user is saving 26% on their energy consumption! That’s a LOT of energy savings.

Other fun factoids:

• Did you know that thermostats represent 50-70% of your home energy use?
• Over 80% of ecobee customers run an energy-saving program (versus the 23% North American average).
• 70% of ecobee customers log on to their online web portal or Smartphone app every week.
• 96% of ecobee customers would recommend ecobee to a friend.

Not an ecobee customer yet? Join the tens of thousands of ecobee customers who are already taking advantage of these incredible savings—and reducing their environmental footprint.  Click “Buy” to find an ecobee Preferred Contractor in your area to get started.

Already an ecobee customer? We want to know how much you saved on your energy bill in 2011? ”Like” us on Facebook, and “Follow” us on Twitter, and give us the details.

When I first joined the ecobee team back in November 2011, I was faced with the daunting task of planning for ecobee’s largest annual tradeshow—AHR 2012—attracting over 50,000 visitors.  As this was my first involvement with tradeshow planning, I was quite unsure as to what I was in for.  After three months of intense planning, which included some long days and very late nights, the time had finally come.  Chris Carradine (Vice President, Marketing at ecobee) and I were 30,000 feet in the air en-route to Chicago!

Building the Booth

It’s hard to imagine what a tradeshow that hosts over 2,000 exhibitors from over 30 countries around the world would look like, but I was absolutely speechless when I arrived at the McCormick centre—I had never seen a space so large. We managed to find our booth location, and slowly began to tick off the to-do list. I had been warned that the McCormick centre was generally kept quite cold, however that was an understatement.  It was frigid.  Equipped with a winter jacket, a hat and mitts (and taking periodic warm-up breaks), Chris and I began to assemble the pieces of the puzzle.  Following some minor injuries—including near frost-bite on our fingers—and a few quick fixes, the ecobee booth was looking sharp.

Show Time

The balance of the ecobee team arrived on Sunday night for our annual sales meeting, and before we knew it Monday morning had rolled around and we were headed to AHR 2012.  Walking onto the show floor on Monday was something of a miracle.  It was almost as if all the booths had been assembled and carpets had been laid down overnight.  And (luckily for me) the temperature had warmed from the increased number of bodies. Within minutes of the show opening, we had an influx of visitors to the ecobee booth.  Many people had to line up for product demos due to the volume of eager customers waiting to get a glimpse of ecobee’s new Smart Si thermostat and the redesigned Contractor Web Portal.  The steady flow of people visiting the booth remained constant throughout the show, and our team members were lucky to even get a bathroom break.

The stamina of the ecobee team was tremendous.  I learned that it takes a lot of energy to be on your feet all-day, actively engaged with customers at all times.  These guys are energizer bunnies!

A Team Building Experience

Being a fairly new employee to ecobee, I had not had the pleasure of working with all of the sales staff who were present at AHR before.  I was able to finally learn more about our Regional Sales Managers coming from different areas of the U.S., and even one from Australia.  I immediately felt at home and welcomed by the group. I look forward to working with them on future projects and I’m sure they are anxiously awaiting the daily reminders and emails they will be receiving from me

I thoroughly enjoyed my AHR experience and learned a great deal about event planning.  Now I am back in our Toronto, Canada office, putting the wheels in motion for the 2013 AHR Expo in Dallas.

Barbara Candlish joined ecobee in November 2011 in the capacity of Sales and Marketing Coordinator. Previously Barbara worked at No.9: Contemporary Art & the Environment in Marketing, Communications and Event Planning. Before working at No.9, Barbara completed the Sport and Event Marketing Program at George Brown College while interning at Ontario Basketball. Barbara attained her B.ScK (Kinesiology) from Dalhousie University in 2007.

We’ve returned to the hive after a magnificent time in the Windy City—and we have fond memories as we reflect on the 2012 AHR Expo.  Simply put, the show was an overwhelming success.  From the remarkable traffic we experienced each day at the ecobee booth, and the excitement our visitors demonstrated about the new products, to the media interest we were able to attract during and after the show—AHR 2012 was one of our best years yet!  Those who visited our booth, and attended Stuart Lombard’s inspiring presentation were eager to learn more about the new Smart Si thermostat, and our completely redesigned Contractor Web Portal.  The excitement around the new products was so palpable, oftentimes our visitors waited patiently in line to receive a live demonstration of the new Smart Si and Contractor Web Portal.

During AHR, ecobee’s President and CEO, Stuart Lombard, conducted over 15 interviews and product demos with industry media, including two video interviews that we can’t wait to see.  In addition, over 70 online trade publications wrote about ecobee’s exciting new products, and clips from our Smart Si and Contractor Web Portal press releases were picked up by over 700 online publications!  Now that’s what we call a lot of buzz.

If you missed the show this year, we’ve got you covered.  Check out our Facebook and Twitter pages for show highlights, videos, photo galleries and more.  And by staying connected, you’ll be the first to get the inside scoop on the latest and greatest from ecobee, including exciting product announcements, energy saving tips and contests for great prizes.

Plans for AHR 2013 are already in motion. Dallas, here we come!

So much to learn, and I wish I could somehow absorb it all at once, but as Chris Carradine (my new boss and Vice President of Marketing at ecobee) assures me, “it’s going to take time”. My name is Stephanie Clarke and I recently joined ecobee as the new Manager, Marketing & Communications. Coming from the contract furniture industry—my transition to ecobee and the HVAC controls industry has been a great adventure thus far. An example? Well, it’s only my third week at ecobee, and here I am in Chicago at North America’s largest HVAC tradeshow—AHR—doing product demos, blogging, Tweeting, and photographing the show.

Joining the Hive

As you probably know, ecobee lives and breathes its commitment to provide products that are easy, smart and green. And when asked, I can’t help but describe my new coworkers the same way. Easy—simply because it’s such a relaxed, friendly, easygoing working environment (we wear jeans to work every day!). Smart—because there are so many really (and I mean really) smart and talented people employed at ecobee. From the Software Development team, Customer Service, and Quality Assurance group, to the Sales and Marketing teams—I know I am going to be dreaming of algorithms, software upgrades, and mobile apps for months. Green—because the team shares a passion for sustainability that is truly inspirational. And it doesn’t stop when they leave the office. The ecobee bike rack is almost always full—even in January (in Toronto!). When I say that that many of my coworkers ride their bikes to work even when the wind chill is enough to freeze your nose hairs, I’m not kidding.

AHR—One BIG Show

I’ve been to lots of tradeshows before. IIDEX/NeoCon and Greenbuild with attendees numbering in the 20,000’s to name a few. So, naturally what shocked me most about AHR was its sheer size—it was truly astounding. For those who haven’t experienced AHR before, let me paint a picture for you. The booths literally go on forever—and you could walk for hours without even covering a small fraction of the space. Every hotel and restaurant in the city of Chicago was booked solid, and taxi/shuttle lines to leave the Expo was rumoured to be upwards of 60 minutes. Many of the people on my flight to Chicago on Sunday night were travelling to the windy city for the same reason as I—AHR 2012. The annual expo is home to 2000 exhibitors from over 30 countries around the world, visited by over 50,000 attendees from over 120 countries.

Arriving at the ecobee booth on Monday morning gave me a real sense of pride. I promptly began taking beauty shots of the booth, and photos of the team working together to prepare for the arrival of thousands of people passing through the ecobee booth. It wasn’t long before I noticed through my tiny camera lens that the booth packed with visitors, and exciting product demos were taking place at every turn. I promised myself I would refrain from using too many “bee” puns, but the booth was literally buzzing with excitement. I’m talking 10 people deep at all times, crowding around to catch a glimpse of the new Smart Si thermostat and Contractor Web Portal. Stuart Lombard, ecobee’s President and CEO spent most of his time over the course of AHR giving product demonstrations and interviewing with industry media—several camera crews even showed up to take live video. Needless to say, we can’t wait to see the final cuts!

In its fourth year exhibiting at the AHR Expo, its plain to see that ecobee is here to stay. And I couldn’t be happier to be a part of it all.

Welcome to the NEW ecobee website!

ecobee is excited to announce the launch of our new corporate website! We were busy at the Hive this summer building a new website that is both easier to use and packed with lots of great new features.

You’ve obviously stumbled upon one great new page on the site, the ecobee blog! Here you will find lots of fun updates, and posts about energy use and getting the most out of your ecobee!

In this, our first blog post, we wanted to tell you about some great new features that we’re launching today:

Request a Quote

Now it’s easier than ever to get a quote from one of our ecobee preferred contractors. Through our new Where to Buy section home and business owners can simply select which contractors in their area they would like to receive quotes from, and we’ll send a request for you. Contractors should get back to you within 72 hours. It’s as easy as that!

Contractor Reviews!

Had a good experience with your contractor? Want to tell us how your installation went? Now you can! After registering a new thermostat a Contractor Review widget will appear in your ecobee web portal. Simply select your contractor, rate them, put in a comment and it will be sent to our sales team. Reviews are confidential.

Support Knowledge Base

Our technical support team has been collecting answers to frequently asked questions for our new searchable knowledge base. Have a quick question for us or want to learn more? Now you can just do quick search and have the answers at your fingertips.

Research

Over the years we’ve been gathering case studies, white papers, videos and third party research reports on ecobee and the energy management sector. Now you can view and download all of our resources directly from our website. Take a look and let us know what you think!

New Videos

There’s nothing like seeing a product in action to help us understand how it works and how it might help make our lives easier. Now you can check out our overview of ecobee solutions, a day in the life of the ecobee Smart Thermostat, or case studies with some of our commercial customers.

For our Contractors and Distributors…

Are you a contractor or distributor carrying the ecobee line of products? We’ve built in lots of great new resources and features just for you.

•  Marketing Support: Now you can download the ecobee logo, full press kit, and a variety of marketing templates directly from our website.
• Webinars: Signup for our weekly webinars at anytime

There’s a lot to explore. We’re excited to hear your thoughts. Feel free to email support@ecobee.com with any feedback!

Thanks again for your continued support, none of this would be possible without you.