If you want a way to save money and energy in your home, it might be a wise investment to explore getting a smart thermostat. These devices can do everything from track when you leave the house, so that it doesn’t waste electricity heating or cooling a vacant home, to adjusting energy usage according to how many people are in a room or what time of day it is.
We’ll cover what a smart thermostat is, how it runs and why it’s worth it to invest in one. We’ll also discuss how it can help you save money on your energy bills by reducing energy consumption.
A smart thermostat is a programmable device that allows you to do it all from changing your heating and cooling settings for different times of day, to tracking when people are in the house, so it isn’t needlessly consuming energy by heating or cooling an empty home.
Most smart thermostats have learning capabilities, which means they pay attention to how you adjust your settings and make automatic adjustments over time based on what they learn from you.
A smart thermostat links to Wi-Fi, so you’ll be able to change and keep track of your energy usage from just about anyplace.
A smart thermostat has learning algorithms and can hook up with other smart home technology, such as Google Home, Amazon Alexa and Apple HomeKit, for even better control over your comfort. They’re compatible with most systems, including home heating and air conditioning.
Smart thermostat features include a temperature sensor that can detect when the home is empty, and then automatically adjust to an energy-efficient setting. Your smart thermostat might be able to geofence with your phone to know when you’re at home or away.
A smart thermostat does things like adapt more for rooms that are occupied or have more people in them, as well as track what time of day it is so it knows how much heating or air conditioning should be going.
For some people, the answer is yes. If you do a lot of traveling or are gone for long hours during the day, it may be worth your money to invest in one of these devices. You could save a lot, especially if you forget to change it when you leave for the office or go out of town for the weekend.
You won’t have to worry about whether your smart thermostat is on the right program, or if you remembered to change the temperature setting before you went out. It doesn’t require much effort from you, but you’ll see it in reduced energy bills.
Many homeowners have a standard programmable thermostat, but 40% of them aren’t set correctly. This means you could be missing chances to save on heating and cooling expenses.
Smart thermostats are handy because they adjust to your schedule and automate heating and cooling that corresponds. You can set a comparable schedule on a programmable thermostat. But it’s more work to program your thermostat by hand.
A smart thermostat conveniently adjusts and progressively changes the temperature inside your home for the biggest energy savings. If you manually change a programmable thermostat, you can overburden your HVAC system and make it work harder to meet your changes.
Yes, because your smart thermostat will learn from your temperature preferences and day-to-day activities to make a schedule that reduces heating and cooling costs. You don’t have to do much as your thermostat does all the work for you while saving money.
You can acquire the same energy savings with a programmable thermostat, but it’s going to require a little bit more effort than a smart thermostat. To put together a schedule on programmable models, we suggest following these recommendations from ENERGY STAR® to save energy.
To sum up, you don’t have to get a smart thermostat to save on your energy bill. All you need is a programmable thermostat, but it’s important to know that any savings may come at the cost of your comfort and convenience.
Nest, one of the most popular smart thermostat manufacturers, states its smart thermostat saves U.S. homeowners about:
Your smart thermostat will provide you with a monthly heating and cooling report, which usually compares you to other residences in your community.
Your possible savings vary based on your house, where you live, how much insulation you have and your desired temperature settings. You might experience average savings, significant savings or somewhere in the middle.
If you’re noticing you’re only seeing minimal savings on energy costs, you might be optimizing for energy efficiency already. This includes turning off your HVAC system when you’re not at home or turning your thermostat up/down when you’re asleep.
Smart thermostats make the process easy through their hands-off process that slowly shifts the temperature. If you’re at home a lot, it might not save you much on energy costs as is the point in an automated, energy-efficient schedule.
Many utility companies offer rebates to homeowners who install energy-saving, ENERGY STAR-certified equipment like a smart thermostat. The rebate total varies by company, but in many instances, it will take care of most or all the cost. To find out more, check your utility company’s website for rebate info.
Installing a smart thermostat is an investment, but it can save you money in the end. If you’ve been considering installing one and want to know if they run as promised, we offer free home comfort assessments. Call our Experts at 866-397-3787 to schedule yours today!
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