Eve Thermo receives Ecodesign Award
On November 25, 2019, Eve Systems received the Ecodesign Award, Germany’s most renowned award for ecological design, at an awards ceremony held at the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Since 2012 the Ecodesign Award has been presented annually by the German Federal Ministry and the German Environment Agency in cooperation with the International Design Center Berlin. The Ecodesign Award recognizes sustainable products, services and concepts which are outstanding in their design. This year, one of the six award winners in the “Product” category was Eve Thermo.
To the award presenter Matthias Held, professor at the School of Design Schwäbisch Gmünd, the unique proposition of Eve Thermo was clear: “Programming the device directly or via a smartphone allows the heater to be used only when needed”, said the jury member. He added: “This is a product with great savings potential that also impressed the jury with its thoughtful design and ease of use.”
Image: Federal Minister Svenja Schulze, Lars Felber (Director PR) and Oliver Renelt (reneltdesign) on stage at the awards ceremony)
Energy efficiency and rock-solid privacy by design
The hardware is made in Germany by a leading specialist in heating controllers. Eve Thermo is also designed to avoid the use of additional gateways. Its Bluetooth technology is supported directly by iPhone as well as Apple TV and HomePod used by HomeKit as home hubs, meaning there’s no need for a proprietary starter pack, bridge or cloud access to control Eve Thermo locally or remotely – thereby cutting energy consumption and cabling requirements, and increasing security and privacy. And with the negligible transmitter power output of just 1 mW (one milliwatt), a set of AA batteries will see you through a complete home-heating season – and with such a low power output, no health risks are posed either.
“As a manufacturer, we made the conscious decision not to set up our own cloud system, but instead use Apple’s platform,” said Ina Hirsch, Director Marketing, Eve Systems. “As a result, the user is guaranteed that their data remains absolutely private, and that no data on their comings and goings which is used for location-based control of the heating is recorded, evaluated, or shared with third parties – neither by Apple nor us.” With Eve Thermo the user doesn’t pay for the energy and cost saving with a loss of privacy either, which unfortunately is the case with almost all other major smart home platforms. Learn more
The software boasts extensive energy-saving functions. It all begins with schedules that are a breeze to add using the app. These control when comfort and energy-saving economy temperatures are to be set for workdays and days off. When a user is away from home, with an optional home hub (see above) the user’s iPhone can communicate with Eve Thermo and control heating based on the user’s location. The smart radiator valve then responds accordingly depending on whether the user is leaving or arriving home. In addition, the touch-sensitive display allows manual control at any time.
The entire package of functions is rounded off by a range of additional features. Eve Thermo detects when a window is open and pauses heating. If a user is about to take a long vacation, Vacation Mode lowers the temperature to a minimum that saves energy and prevents the home from cooling down. In addition, the app-controlled Child Lock prevents energy being wasted as a result of little fingers fiddling around with the controls. The app can also group several Eve Thermo valves together, allowing the user to lower the heating throughout the home just by asking Siri.
Being eco-friendly is fun
Together with smart plugs – such as the companion product Eve Energy – that offer app-based energy-consumption reports and cost forecasts, app-controlled smart radiator valves are among the most popular accessories in the smart home segment. Similar to how fitness trackers and pedometers worn on the wrist can be used to monitor and improve habits via an app, these smart home accessories make it fun to lead an eco-friendly lifestyle thanks to a positive user experience and uninterrupted home comfort.
“According to the German energy agency dena, heating and warm water account for 85% of the energy used in the home. If you turn down your heating by a single degree, you’ll cut your energy bills by 6% in an instant,” said Ina Hirsch. “A smart radiator valve offers you comfort without wasting energy, and lowers the temperature without your home freezing up – all automatically.” Source: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (Germany)
Since the HomeKit technology used by Eve Thermo is already baked into the iPhone’s operating system, the smart radiator valve can be operated completely seamlessly and intuitively thanks to the pre-installed apps and Siri. And when the user has a home hub, the advanced functions such as remote access and location-based control become available automatically. The Eve app, which as the front end to HomeKit does not require the user to log in or even create an account, features preset schedules for Eve Thermo covering many common scenarios that can be customized with just a tap or replaced entirely with personalized ones.
Requires iPhone or iPad with the latest version of iOS/iPadOS
Requires iOS/iPadOS 16.4 (or later) / Android™ 8.1 (or later), Matter controller / Thread Border Router
Requires iOS/iPadOS 16.4 (or later) / Android™ 8.1 (or later), Matter controller / Thread Border Router
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What are the chances of Eve introducing a smart thermostat for the US market? I don't trust any of the ones currently available, and, as far as I know, none of them support Thread.- Reply
Hello Mark! There are no plan as of today, sorry. Eve Thermo is for hot water based heaters and has European standard connectors. Best regards, Volker- Reply
Thanks Volker, I realize that a thermostat for the US market would require a completely different process and design and could not be a simple reconfiguring of the European model, but I do think that there is a very large untapped market for a private, secure, Thread-based thermostat for the US that Eve would be able to take advantage of with a new product designed from the ground up for the US. Perhaps something to consider...- Reply
I have a large house with 18 Eve Thermo and all works very well. However, I have two problems with the excellent Eve App. At Glance and Rooms overview only show the set temperature, not the actual measured temperature. It is much desired to display both temperatures just like Apple's Home App do. It would be even better to also have a setting so one could select if the displayed actual temperature is the measured temperature or the measured temperature adjusted with the offset. The offset adjusted actual temperature is the best approximation of the real room temperature. My second problem with the Eve App is that it does not display Grouped Accessories (created in Apple Home). I have 7 groups with a total of 39 bulbs, most of them spotlights. It is impossible to use Eve as the control app when you cannot control for example 9 spotlights in one room as one light. If these two major flaws can be fixed Eve would be the best Homekit app of them all.- Reply
Hello Nisse!Eve Thermo measures the temperature way too close to the valve, so it is not really important. Because the offset is a value that we can only set in Eve and HomeKit does not even know about it, To set the ofsset the best was is to set a desired target temperature like 22 degree then measure with a thermometer in the middle of the room. If for example 19,5 degrees is reached, the offset would be -2,5 degrees. Please forget about the temperature measured by Eve Thermo.
Eve does not support groups as we know from Home (yet), sorry. Eve only support groups for using with Siri.
I'll pass the request on to the developers.
Best regards and stay safe! Volker
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Hi Volker,I think you misunderstood my request. I have measured the temperature in every room to correctly set the offsets. They vary from +1 degree to -2.5 degrees depending on room. What I like the Eve App to do is to display the measured temperature corrected with the offset. For example, in my room with and offset of -2.5 degrees the Apple Home App displays a temperature of 20.5 degrees when the actual temperature in the room measured with another thermometer is 18 degrees. What I like the Eve app to do is to display both the set temperature and the measured temperature, just like the Home App do, but adjusted with the offset. I.e. 18 degrees in my example which is the actual temperature when the offset is correctly calibrated. I understand that the displayed temperature will fluctuate more than the actual temperature in the middle of the room because of Thermo's proximity to the radiator, but the reading is much more accurate that the 20.5 degrees that the Home App show. For me it's a big negative that the Eve App does not show the measured temperature, only the set temperature. The Eve App should take advantage of using the offset proprietary feature of the Thermo.
Best regards
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Hello Nisse!Thanks you got it now. We don't include the offset you set/display the measured temperature. This
would lead to problems with users of Home, where the app does not even know about offset.
Have a great Sunday, Volker
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Hi Volker,I apologize for being persistent, but what I'm proposing is that you continue to provide the actual measured temperature to Apple Home (just like you do today), but in the Eve app you display the measured temperature adjusted with the offset in the at Glance and Rooms overview (today the actual temperature is not displayed at all in these Eve views, neither with nor without the offset). If you prefer you can make this configurable. Default is no display of actual temperature at all (just like today). Configured without offset is just like the Apple Home app, and configured with offset being proprietary to the Eve app. In my opinion this would be a great addition to the excellent Eve app.
Kind regards!
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Hello Nisse,The app Home does not even know about the offset, because it is not a characteristic, this won't change. So Home will always display the measured temperature so will Siri. We could change this in Eve but the decision is against doing so. It would confuse users that work with both apps or other HomeKit enabled apps. I will bring this up again but I'm afraid this won't be changed, sorry.
Best regards, Volker
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Hi Volker,OK, I understand, and thank you for the fast responses. What I really miss in the excellent Eve "At a Glance" view is seeing both the actual temperature and the set temperature in the same tile. So here is an idea for your development team. Make it possible to group an external temperature sensor with a Thermo, and display both temperatures similar to the Home app.
Best regards
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Hello Nisse!The target temperature is the only one we display cause the measured temperature would confuse. It is measured too close to the heater and the offset won't be integrated. You can't group different sensors in HomeKit, sorry. Best regards, volker