Comfort controller with user feedback

1. A method of maintaining and/or increasing a user's perceived comfort within a building that is serviced by an HVAC system, the method comprising:

detecting a variety of different environmental conditions, wherein the variety of different environmental conditions include different combinations of indoor temperature, outdoor temperature, indoor humidity, outdoor humidity, solar index, smog level, wind speed, wind direction, and pollen count;

prompting the user to input a perceived comfort level for each of the variety of different environmental conditions;

generating perceived comfort levels for the variety of different environmental conditions based on receiving one or more user inputs that are responsive to the prompting;

populating a memory with each respective perceived comfort level of the perceived comfort levels along with an environmental condition of the variety of different environmental conditions that corresponds to the respective perceived comfort level;

learning under what environmental conditions inside the building the user is expected to be comfortable based at least in part on the perceived comfort levels along with the environmental condition of the variety of different environmental conditions that corresponds to the respective perceived comfort level populated in the memory; and

providing one or more commands to the HVAC system that cause the HVAC system to achieve an environmental condition inside the building under which the user is expected to be comfortable.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the memory stores a database, wherein the database is populated with each of the perceived comfort levels along with the environmental condition of the variety of different environmental conditions that corresponds to the respective perceived comfort level.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the learning comprises learning a range of environmental conditions inside the building under which the user is expected to be comfortable based at least in part on the perceived comfort levels along with the environmental condition of the variety of different environmental conditions that corresponds to the respective perceived comfort level in the memory.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the prompting comprises, prompting via a user interface of an HVAC controller.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the prompting comprises prompting via a user interface of a portable remote device.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the portable remote device is one of a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, or a tablet computer.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the perceived comfort levels indicates whether the user is either comfortable or not comfortable.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the perceived comfort levels indicates a rating along a rating scale of four or more perceived comfort levels.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying one or more recommendations for achieving the environmental condition inside the building under which the user is expected to be comfortable.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the detecting comprises detecting a change in one or more environmental conditions of the variety of different environmental conditions that might affect the user's perceived comfort level, wherein the prompting is in response to detecting the change.

11. A method of maintaining, with a processor, and/or increasing, with the processor, a user's perceived comfort within a building that is serviced by an HVAC system, the method comprising:

monitoring an indoor temperature, an indoor humidity, and an outdoor temperature;

detecting when each of a variety of different environmental conditions occurs, wherein the variety of different environmental conditions include different combinations of indoor temperature, outdoor temperature, indoor humidity, outdoor humidity, solar index, smog level, wind speed, wind direction, and pollen count;

in response to detecting a change in one of the variety of different environmental conditions that might affect the user's perceived comfort, prompting the user to input a perceived comfort level;

populating a database with each perceived comfort level along with a respective environmental condition of the variety of different environmental conditions that corresponds to the respective perceived comfort level;

developing a user's comfort profile based, at least in part, on the database; and

based at least in part on the user's comfort profile, providing one or more commands to the HVAC system that cause the HVAC system to achieve an environmental condition inside the building under which the user is expected to be comfortable.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising reducing occurrences at which the user is prompted to input the perceived comfort level over time.

13. A portable remote device comprising:

an input/output port configured to send and/or receive data over a network;

a user interface including a display;

a controller coupled to the input/output port and the user interface, the controller configured to:

identify when each of a variety of different environmental conditions are occurring, wherein the variety of different environmental conditions include different combinations of indoor temperature, outdoor temperature, indoor humidity, outdoor humidity, solar index, smog level, wind speed, wind direction, and pollen count;

prompt a user via the user interface to input a perceived comfort level under each of the variety of different environmental conditions;

receive perceived comfort levels via the user interface; and

transmit each of the perceived comfort levels to a remote server over the network in order to populate a database that includes each respective perceived comfort level of the perceived comfort levels along with an environmental condition of the variety of different environmental conditions that corresponds to the respective perceived comfort level.

14. The portable remote device according to claim 13 , wherein the portable remote device is a smart phone or a tablet computer.

15. The portable remote device according to claim 13 , wherein the controller is further configured to provide one or more recommendations to the user via the display for achieving a user's comfort.

16. The portable remote device according to claim 13 , wherein the controller is further configured to prompt the user via the user interface to input one or more user-related conditions, wherein the one or more user-related conditions include one or more of an activity level of the user or a type of clothing worn by the user.