Heat your dumb home

Hi everyone, it’s Nate in London. Out-of-control energy prices could pave the way for a smart thermostat renaissance. But first…Today’s must [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hi everyone, it’s Nate in London. Out-of-control energy prices could pave the way for a smart thermostat renaissance. But first… Today’s must-reads: • Twitter [resumed]( selling its Twitter Blue premium offering • FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried [has been arrested]( • Microsoft [offered]( Sony the right to sell Call of Duty Heat smarter It’s going to be a cold winter. The heating bills in my London flat have climbed 150% since last year. And that figure is not as severe as it is for some of my neighbors in Europe, who have seen their prices quadruple in recent months. For me, relief has come in the form of a smart thermostat. Internet-connected home heating systems have proliferated in recent years, made by companies such as Hive, Ecobee, Tado and Google’s Nest. As Europe’s energy crisis has worsened, these devices have suddenly become particularly useful. Smart thermostats even got a boost directly from the EU, which said earlier this year that it would aim to get 1.5 million such devices into European homes—part of a bid to wean the continent off Russian energy. But there are a few major hurdles to wide adoption of smart thermostats, which according to a US study last year are used in [fewer than 20%]( of households. One issue is ease of installation: an obstacle I found to be pleasantly—and surprisingly—surmountable. I highlighted this as part of my [latest Bloomberg QuickTake video](, which explains how smart thermostats and heating systems work. It’s worth a watch if you’re unsure where to start researching options for your own home. Another issue is cost: Does buying a smart home heating system cost more than the savings it produces? By scrutinizing my energy bill, I found that after installing my new heating systems, I used about 30% less energy. That couldn’t offset the 150% increase in the cost of energy, but it did make a difference. Had I not installed the smart thermostat and continued to guzzle energy as I had last year, I would have paid £66 ($81) more in the month of November alone. The good news for me: That’s greater than the cost of one of the five smart radiator valves I installed in my home. My back-of-the-envelope math suggests that after a half year I should come out ahead. My reduction in energy usage was similar to a figure promoted by Ecobee. According to the company’s website, it expects customers in North America to save an average of about 26% on their heating and cooling costs after using its recommended setup ([see the math here](). Of course, not everyone realizes big savings. A National Bureau of Economic Research [paper in September]( found “little evidence that smart thermostats have a statistically or economically significant effect on energy use.” Perhaps I’ve been more aggressive with attempted cost savings than most. I appreciate the ability to heat only one room of my house if only one room is occupied. And I can add sensors to my rooms, allowing the system to detect unoccupied spaces, or if I’m not home at all. In a world of technological marvels—where a [wristwatch can detect]( an undiagnosed heart condition—it feels like it’s high time for domestic heating systems to catch up, considering how much we rely on them and how much they cost. More smart thermostats could be also good news for energy companies, which are [trying]( to encourage people to use less energy in part because of cost, but also because of challenges storing and supplying it. As London heads for [sub-freezing temperatures this week](, every little bit could help.  —[Nate Lanxon](mailto:nlanxon@bloomberg.net) The big story TikTok’s problem child has 7 million followers and one proud mom. Young creators like Jenny Popach are posting suggestively sexual content, sometimes with parental approval, leaving moderators and executives [unsure what to do](. Get fully charged Japan and the Netherlands have agreed in principle [to join the US]( in tightening controls over the export of advanced chipmaking machinery to China, according to people familiar with the matter. Google defeated a privacy lawsuit by consumers who accused the company of [snooping on them]( even after they opted out of sharing their web activity. Sony led a big jump in video-game hardware sales in the US last month, in the latest sign of [improving PlayStation 5]( supply. 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