seeking information about automating a forced air system

[dtr29]

I am revovating a house in Brattleboro Vermont, and will be replacing the oil burning furnace; but retaining the existing duct work for the forced air heating system. The work will be done by a local contractor.

I am considering the feasablity and cost/benifit trade off of installing several automated small fans, louvers and temperature sensors so as to enable room-by-room temperature control. I would like to be able to control the system from a pc (running linux), and also generate reports from the raw data.

I will live in this house, but I will also have some renters. I would like the residents to be able to decide how much heat they want, and charge them based on their usage. Hence the need for the reporting data.

I am a computer programmer, and would probably end up writing my own data processing code; that is the only part of the project which is DIY. I am most interested in getting information on the sensors and servos that would be needed and finding someone knowaleagle to install them, as this is beyond my contractor's experience. I would also be interested in some controller software with an API that I can interact with from the JAVA or Python computer language on LINUX.

[catmanacman]

install a honeywell zone control with each area or room having its own thermostat and damper, then just rent it for enough to cover the cost of heating and cooling it. there is a honeywell wireless system with wifi that you can control from you smart device or laptop