CES 2015

I’ve seen plenty of cool product concepts in my time. A lot of them, perhaps the majority, have imploded along the way as the fragile dreamscape of the theoretical world is thoroughly trashed by the much harsher, take-no-prisoners landscape of the real world. Since nothing other than beta units have shipped yet, it’s not possible to tell whether or not Ecovent’s intelligent HVAC vents and environmental sensor network will manage to be more than a brief blast of hot air. But I truly hope so, because it’s one the most exciting products I can every remember coming across.

Put simply, Ecovent makes replacement, “smart” HVAC vents and separate environmental sensors that monitors each room in which a vent (or vents) is installed and controls the flow of air into the room based on what you and/or the system determines is the appropriate temperature when the room is occupied and unoccupied. You can think of an Ecovent system as the equivalent of light switches throughout your home. With most current HVAC systems, when the furnace is on, for example, you’re pumping hot air into every room – regardless of whether you’re occupying that room or not. It’s as if you had only one light switch for home and your only choices are all the lights on or all the lights off. Ecovent systems provide individual control of the heating and cooling on a room-by-room basis.

Ecovents can be easily installed in any home – new construction or existing house. And when I say “easy”, I mean stupidly, dead simple easy. Ecovent’s smart vents replace the existing HVAC vents in your home. They’ll come in a variety of sizes to fit the various sized vents that have been installed in home over the years. Ecovents are wireless and use four AA batteries, which Ecovent claims should last close to three years before they need to be replaced. Ecovent environmental sensors simply plug in to an existing AC outlet. They include two outlets, so you don’t lose access to the original outlets, in addition to a couple of 2 Amp USB charging ports.

Ecovents include a motorized, rubber “curtain” that opens and closes behind the front face of the vent in order to let more or less air pass through. The rubber curtain is concealed behind the flat face of the vent, and the airflow is directed 360 degrees around the outer edge of the vent. Because Ecovents don’t incorporate louvers, airflow into the room is not only more efficient – it’s significantly quieter. While this is certainly a good thing in general, the minimal noise output of the vents make them ideal for use in home theaters and rooms where serious music listening is done.

Ecovent says it’s difficult to give an exact figure on how much an Ecovent system will save a homeowner but general heating and cooling cost savings can run as much as 30-40%. Shipments are expected to begin mid-year.