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Honeywell Evohome smart energy launches in the UK: Power at your fingertips

Honeywell’s Evohome smart energy system launches in the UK today, giving you even more control of your central heating. 

Many smart energy systems we’ve seen so far like Nest and Hive let you remotely control the heating of your whole home. You can alter the thermostat either from a desktop console or a phone app, but however you approach it you’ll still be controlling the temperature of the whole house. 

Evohome goes a step further. As it communicates with devices attached to individual heaters in your house, you can change the temperature of individual rooms, whole floors or specific ‘zones’ defined by you. 

Honeywell Evohome smart energy launches in the UK: Heat at your fingertips
Pro Evo: Control the temperature using the touchscreen remote thermostat or the mobile app

This way you get to decide which parts of your home get the most heat. You know better than anyone where the cold spots are and so you’ll be able to give those rooms a few more degrees while turning the heat down where it’s not needed. 

Jeremy Peterson, general manager of Honeywell’s EMEA Home Comfort & Energy Systems division likens controlling everything in your home from one thermostat to having a single light switch for every bulb. 

Peterson said: “With the right heating controls in place you really can make your home your perfect comfort zone by setting different temperatures for different rooms, at different times.” 

As well as providing a more customisable solution, there’s a real cost benefit to installing a zone-based system like Evohome. Peterson added: “We’ve done extensive testing proving the energy saving benefits of smart ‘zoning’ and having an accurate, real-time insight into home heating.” 

Honeywell Evohome smart energy launches in the UK: Heat at your fingertips
Evohome’s touchscreen control up close and two radiator controls. Below, a screenshot of the iOS app.
Honeywell Evohome smart energy launches in the UK: Heat at your fingertips
Honeywell Evohome smart energy launches in the UK: Heat at your fingertips

Tests with TACMA (The Association of Controls Manufacturers) undertaken at Strathclyde University showed that a typical three bedroom, two storey UK home with a family of four could cut their heating bill by up to 40 per cent with Evohome, compared to a basic home with no smart energy solution in place. 

In terms of how Evohome compares to whole home solutions like Nest and Hive, in terms of savings offered, well that’s another story.

As we’ve argued, it’s tricky impossible to record real-time savings without a smart meter, so you won’t be able to compare the cost-benefits of Evohome. 

On paper, the greater control afforded to you by Evohome ought to mean you save more money. But without being able to log data of our own, we can’t say for sure. 

One cost we can consider is the set up and asking price, as we’ve done in a previous smart energy round up.

Evohome costs £249 for a starter kit, which includes a control panel, an internet gateway and a heating control for one room. Additional modules for more rooms cost £77 each. You can create and control up to 12 zones with Evohome. 

Compared to other options available, Evohome isn’t cheap. But you’re paying for a solution that can be customised and can be grown, depending on how much you want or need to spend. 

Evohome can be ordered directly from Honeywell’s site. Using the System Builder tool, you can customise your order to suit your specific needs. 

Last year we caught up with Honeywell prior to today’s launch of Evohome in the UK. Check out our hands-on shots of the full Evohome system and iOS app for a more detailed overview. 

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