Make an Impact: How Donating Your Data Helps Build Smarter Homes

Donate Your Data is a program from ecobee that lets customers choose to share anonymized thermostat data to support environmental and academic research. That means no personal info, just temperature and usage patterns that help researchers understand how real people use energy at home.

In short, your data helps make homes smarter.

When you share your data, you're helping researchers tackle some of today’s biggest energy challenges, like how to keep homes comfortable during extreme heat or how remote work has changed energy use patterns.

Here’s a look at some of the findings your data has helped uncover:

1. Helping Homes Handle the Heat

A study from Arlene Oetomo, a PhD student at the University of Waterloo, looked at how smart thermostats can help people prepare for extreme heat. Two key takeaways:

Every home is different: Smart thermostats like ecobee’s adapt to each home’s unique needs. Features like eco+ help cool your home efficiently without wasting energy. Small changes add up: Pre-cooling your home or adjusting settings before the heat hits can make a big difference to your comfort and your energy bill.

2. The Remote Work Shift

Another study, using data from over 22,000 ecobee homes, explored how remote work has reshaped energy use. The findings:

Remote work is here to stay: Researchers saw a 31% shift toward full-time work-from-home routines.

Comfort matters more: People working from home started heating and cooling their homes more consistently throughout the day. Goodbye, old energy-saving habits.

More AC, more often: Homes with remote workers saw a 25% jump in air conditioner use, compared to just 11% for everyone else.

All of this helps researchers, and companies like ecobee, better understand how to design smarter, more efficient features.

When you donate your data, you’re not just helping researchers. You’re helping shape the future of smart home tech.

Your shared data helps:

• Improve features like eco+, which adjusts your home’s temperature based on weather or occupancy.

• Develop tools that match real lifestyles, like people working from home, so your thermostat knows when to save energy and when to keep things cozy.

• Support innovation that could lead to smarter, more personalized products for your home.

So yes, you're making an impact, and you’re getting smarter home tech in return.

Ready to Help?

Join Donate Your Data today and be part of the change. It's a small step that can lead to smarter homes, better energy use, and a more sustainable future for everyone.