How to save money on AC during the summer 2023

IFTTT Team's favorite Applet - October 21st, 2022

IFTTT Team Member: Dan Burns, Head of the Community team.

Dan was born in Boston, but recently moved to the central valley in California. He leads our community team helping serve IFTTT users.

What problem does the Applet solve?

In central California, it can get hot. Dan uses Eco-mode on his Google Nest Thermostat so it turns on the AC when it's over 79 degrees inside his house. Dan noticed that sometimes the outside tempurature is cooler, but his AC was still turning on to cool his home. He built this Applet to notify him to open a window when the outside tempurature is cooler than his inside tempurature, so he can save money on his electric bill.

How is the Applet built?

This Applet uses the Google Nest Thermostat Integration, Weather Underground, Alexa Voice Monkey, and the Notification services. It also uses custom Filter code from our filter code generator.

Applet setup:

1. If the indoor temperature rises above 78, the trigger fires then Weather Underground queries the outdoor temp.

2. If its warmer outside than inside then the actions skip

3. If it is cooler outside than it is inside I get an Alexa Voice notification via Alexa Voice Monkey and an IFTTT app notification telling me to open a window instead.

4. I don’t want this to happen during winter so the filter code also checks that its a month that I’m likely to be using AC and will skip the actions otherwise

Here's the filter code Dan used to build his Applet!

let hotMonths =( Meta.currentUserTime.month() > 2 && Meta.currentUserTime.month() < 10 ) let coolerOutside = Weather.currentWeather[0].CurrentTempFahrenheit < GoogleNestThermostat.temperatureRisesAbove.Temperature

if ( coolerOutside && hotMonths ) { //run the actions }else{ IfNotifications.sendNotification.skip() Voicemonkey.trigger.skip() }

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