Home’s thermostat can save money when it’s been programmed correctly
Home energy Q&A

A: While I do think that a programmable (also called set-back or automatic) thermostat can save money and keep your home more comfortable, it’s important to note that it will only do these things if you use it the right way.

What a programmable thermostat does is adjust your air-conditioner or heating settings to match your lifestyle according to the schedule you set up.

For example, during the summer, you might like to sleep with the windows open so you set the thermostat to turn the air conditioner off between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. You set it to turn the air conditioner on at 78 degrees at 5 a.m. and leave it at that setting until 8 a.m. when the family leaves for the day. You program it to raise the thermostat at that time to 82 degrees. And you adjust it to turn on the air conditioner back at 78 degrees starting at 4:30 p.m. when the kids get home from school.

Wait a minute, you might say. You can do all that yourself. Why do you need a fancy thermostat to do all this?

Basically, people love these thermostats not only because they are fairly low-cost to buy and easy to operate, but most importantly, they don’t forget to make the thermostat adjustments you want. You can even program most of the models to make different settings on weekends and during times when you’re on vacation. There’s no more getting out of bed at 11 p.m. because it’s too cold and you forgot to turn the thermostat down, or sitting at work in the middle of the day and suddenly remembering that the air conditioner is cranking out all that cold air into an empty house because you left the setting on too low.

I’ve seen studies that report that the typical homeowner can save $150 to $200 annually on energy bills by properly setting the thermostat to match actual cooling and heating needs. That will pay back the cost of an average setback thermostat in just a few months, and help keep your home more comfortable in the cooling and heating seasons.

Research has shown that for every degree you can raise the thermostat setting in summer or lower it in winter, you can save anywhere from 2 to 10 percent on energy costs (the number varies greatly depending on the climate, the overall energy efficiency of your home and other factors).

Ken Sheinkopf is a communications specialist with the American Solar Energy Society ( www.ases.org).

Send your energy questions to askken@ases.org.

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