On technology adoption

My officemate Chintan likes to think about how technology gets adopted - the classical model is that initially enthusiasts pick it up despite the cost; and over time, becomes economically worthwhile for everyone.

There can be surprising niches where it makes economical sense even for non-enthusiasts to invest in some things. Here is an example:

Riga Development, a wireless-technology firm in Toronto, has worked with hotels in Canada and the United States to replace ageing analogue thermostats with digital ones that are around 35% more energy-efficient. It wirelessly links the new temperature-control panels with heating and air-conditioning units, at a cost of around $350 per room. Each room can also be controlled from the front desk. And thanks to the wireless mesh network, the panel in each room also acts as a relay for the data traffic from other rooms back to a central control point.

At a medium-sized office park in Las Vegas, wireless temperature controls were installed in a few buildings containing around 200 offices, says the media-shy maintenance manager (who did not want his or the company's name to be used). Temperatures in the Nevada desert tend to extremes and landlords are responsible for energy bills, so managing a building's climate makes a difference to the bottom line. The new wireless thermostats allow rooms to be controlled centrally on a PC or over the web. The adjustments that tenants themselves are able to make can be controlled too, so that heating or air-conditioning is not used to excess. The system was cheap to put in, mainly because it required very little installation, the manager explains. Tenants are happier and the savings on the energy bills have been considerable, he says; “conservatively 25%”.

25% of a normal energy bill would not make a 350$ per room installation viable, especially when in just a few years, it might drop to something like 50-60$, when mesh networking is all figured out.