> But unless these units are battery-driven, I see more complexity in just getting the silly things wired up
Opening/closing the vent very occasionally shouldn't require more than some AA batteries in each vent. Lithium batteries ($5-8 for a 4-pack) would last months or even years. I have some powering the keypad & deadbolt on my front door, which is both remote controllable like these vents would be, and has to operate a motor to turn the bolt, and it's rated for 1-2 years use on a single set of batteries.
Another thing to note, the vents would only need to be adjusted when the heat load in a particular room changed too much which might mean only slight changes every now and then to adjust air distribution in response to changing seasons or a cold spell. You could still reap tons of benefits by getting the air flow close to optimum and not constantly readjusting to exactly meet the maximum. The video mentioned the vents closing when it reaches the proper temperature but I can't see why they wouldn't also open them partially to save on needless opening and closing vents.
Of course, but I'm also counting in the radio stage of the unit. If it's one-way that's cool, if it's two-way then there are other concerns about power usage.
Opening/closing the vent very occasionally shouldn't require more than some AA batteries in each vent. Lithium batteries ($5-8 for a 4-pack) would last months or even years. I have some powering the keypad & deadbolt on my front door, which is both remote controllable like these vents would be, and has to operate a motor to turn the bolt, and it's rated for 1-2 years use on a single set of batteries.