Quilt, a heat pump startup, is one of the first to install a software update remotely, and it was one with a major impact. Its update increased the function of the heating and cooling capabilities by more than 20%.
"From the very beginning, we wanted to design the systems to be able to be continuously improved, updated over the air. It's a pattern that's happened in EVs and gotten a lot of traction, but no one had really done that before in HVAC," Paul Lambert, the CEO of Quilt, told TechCrunch. "In cars, sometimes they call it software-defined vehicles. We feel like we've created software-defined HVAC."
Quilt's software update was a response to demand from clients who had open floor plans and larger living rooms and needed their HVAC to work more efficiently.
HVAC is rarely updated unless there is a significant hardware or software issue. But with many of Quilt's team members coming from technology giants such as Google and Apple, they wanted to utilize the potential of frequent updates.
Quilt stands out for its higher-quality sensors than the standard residential HVAC, which include higher-accuracy temperature and current sensors, plus additional pressure sensors. The update changed its function from up to 19,700 BTUs of cooling per hour to 24,000 BTUs, as well as moving from 20,500 to 24,000 BTUs of heating per hour.
Heat pumps like Quilt may come with a slightly higher price tag to provide the energy-efficient service; however, the result is a much lower energy bill — often reduced by half or more — and a lower carbon footprint for the household.
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"We think there's just so much value to be gained from that extra data that we felt that was worth it to integrate them," Isaac McQuillen, the engineer of the capacity increase project, said.
Heat pumps are an eco-friendly and cost-effective replacement for gas furnaces and air conditioning units. Despite the name, heat pumps function as both a heater and a cooling system by moving heat around the space in an energy-efficient manner, rather than changing the room's temperature.
Heat pumps are just one of the many options to upgrade your home to be more eco-friendly. Installing solar panels and converting to a natural lawn are two easy ways to drastically cut your energy and water bills and bring down the energy use of your neighborhood.
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