Nest Finally Tells Us What They're Doing With All The Data We Give Them

Nest, maker of connected home products that sometimes work properly, has released their first white paper on Carbon Monoxide levels in the home, pulled from their Protect devices. According to their findings, a minority of homes actually have any CO incidents. To scale, though, it shows just how dangerous CO can be.

Nest cites the CDC numbers, which state that CO poisoning kill 400 people annually. Nest focusses on their own numbers to point out that between the US, UK, and Canada, over one million homes each year are subject to high levels of CO. The minimum threshold for an alarm — again, according to the CDC — is 70ppm of CO. Nest measured peak CO levels ranging from 70 to 1,964ppm, with 142 being the median.

Winter is naturally a peak season for CO issues, with the average CO problem being "low and short". Nest's info-graphics show a spike in events that are on the lower end of the "alert level" range, and those incidents typically last an hour or so.

The fallout here is that Nest is trying to provide a better understanding to us of what their WiFi connected devices are actually doing with the info gathered. Unlike previous studies, which would have required tireless legwork and years of studies, Nest can gather data and produce studies in a matter of months. Of course, without further data of just what is causing these CO issues in the home, there is no fast fix for these quick answers.

Source: Nest