Thermostat with integrated particle sensor

A thermostat for monitoring air quality and controlling environment in a living space of a residential or commercial building comprising:

• a temperature sensor in a wall mounted thermostat enclosure having an external communication interface wherein a measured temperature value and a measured particle count value are communicated to an external device for logging of the measured temperature and particle count values wherein the wall mounted thermostat enclosure has a wiring access to provide power to the thermostat;
• at least one control processor in the wall mounted thermostat enclosure, the at least one control processor being configured with a software program to control the external communication interface and operate with a temperature setpoint and a particulate setpoint, the at least one control processor being connected to the temperature sensor and a light sensing airborne particle measurement sensor;
• a fan or a blower in the thermostat enclosure that actuates an airflow in the wall mounted thermostat enclosure wherein the airflow passes through a particle sensor inlet and a particle sensor exhaust of the thermostat enclosure;
• an actuator control communicating with the at least one control processor, the actuator control generating control signals that control a building air handler device that is external to the wall mounted thermostat enclosure that adjusts at least one of air filtering, heating and cooling in the living space of a residential or commercial building in response to sensor data;
• and
• wherein the light sensing airborne particle measurement sensor in the wall mounted thermostat enclosure is configured to measure a plurality of particles in the airflow wherein the light sensing airborne particle measurement sensor counts a number of particles and communicates measured particle count values to the control processor, each of the particle count values including at least a number of particles counted by size bins, and wherein the actuator control communicates with the building air handler device to control at least one of air filtering, heating and cooling in the living space with the residential or commercial building air handler device and wherein the actuator control actuates an air filtration system when an airborne particle count value rises above the particulate setpoint.