Ecobee Inc. has donated 776 ecobee3 smart thermostats to the Toronto Community Housing Corp. The smart thermostats are expected to help improve the energy efficiency of TCHC buildings, improve the comfort of residents, and help advance Toronto’s climate change action plan, TransformTO.

TCHC provides homes for almost 110,000 people across 2,100 buildings. The ecobee3 units provide residents the ability to adjust temperature based on their preference, helping them to live more comfortably, while using less energy.

The donation is part of The Atmospheric Fund’s larger energy efficiency project, TowerWise. The buildings have been retrofitted to achieve energy, emission and cost reductions. Before the pilot project, the buildings were centrally heated, meaning the heat ran no matter how indoor temperatures varied through the winter. The ecobee3 units use sensors to make heating and cooling decisions to reduce energy waste and offer insights to identify potential future improvements.

“Our core mission is to provide healthy, safe, well-maintained and affordable homes for Torontonians, today and into the future,” said Toronto Community Housing Corp. CEO Kathy Milsom. “The donation of ecobee3 smart thermostats moves that forward in a very real way.”

In addition to the new ecobee3 smart thermostats, TAF also installed new boilers, LED lighting and measures to improve indoor air quality. These changes reduce the building’s carbon emission by 30 percent and utility costs by 20 percent.