When a former iPod division Senior Vice President left Apple with plans to build his own green home, he didn’t expect trouble finding an energy efficient thermostat. It turned out though that not one thermostat on the market lived up to his expectations. Tony Fadell, former Senior Vice President of the iPod Division, decided to create his own thermostat and that was the origin of his company, Nest.

According to Kate Brinks, Director of Corporate Communications at Nest, the basics of a thermostat aren’t much different than a cell phone, which Fadell knew inside and out.

Fadell organized a team that includes Matt Rogers, former head software developer at Apple, and Yoky Matsuoka, former Head of Innovation at Google and recipient of the MacArthur Genius Award for work in robotics and neuroscience.

In October 2011, Nest announced its learning thermostat. The Nest thermostat adapts to manual inputs. For example, by adjusting the temperature at night or when leaving the house, the thermostat ‘learns’ patterns and initiates self-adjustments. Other features include auto-away that detects if people are home, a leaf display to alert homeowners of energy efficient usage, and electronic access to adjust the temperature remotely.

Nest’s goal is to inspire people to consider energy use in the home and to make heating and cooling efficiency a simple matter. There seems to be a wide customer base for their approach. Soon after the product was announced, Nest had to close their online store until early 2012 due to an unexpected flood of orders. Nest thermostats can be found on eBay for over twice their retail price.

In a recent article, co-founder, Matt Rogers was quoted to say, “I loved my job at Apple, and had a great team. But in essence, we were building toys. At Nest, you can build a product that could have a huge impact on a big problem.” It may be hyperbole, but the development of well-designed tools to address pressing issues should be welcomed.