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   One of the easiest ways to lose money on electrical usage in your home is through heating and cooling.  While some of it is human error, forgetting to change the temperature when you aren’t going to be home for a long period of time, much of it is due to the thermostat.  There are many ways to incorporate more energy efficient thermostats into your home, even taking the human aspect out of things.  Three options, each more aggressive than the next, can help you conserve energy and save money with a more efficient thermostat in your home.

1.     Switch to digital.  The old fashioned “slide” thermostats are not as accurate, especially since the slider tends to rest at an angle so that you can never quite tell exactly where it’s set.  This could mean that you think you have your air conditioner set to 75 degrees, when it’s really cranked down to 70 degrees, costing you extra money for a temperature that’s going to have you freezing in your own household.  Also, these units fall out of calibration easily and could be totally off from the reading on the unit itself.  A digital thermostat is much more energy efficient, since you can always tell at exactly what temperature it’s been set, and there is no need for calibration.

2.     Use a programmable unit.  This is where the element of human error can be removed.  A truly energy efficient thermostat is programmable, with preset temperatures for certain daily preset times.  You know at what time you leave the house every day and when you come home.  You also know your approximate bedtime.  Therefore, you can set your thermostat to change to a more energy efficient temperature automatically a few minutes after you leave every morning and kick back to the temperature you prefer a few minutes before you get home.  You can set a different temperature for overnight to accommodate your slower metabolism, and if you ever need to change it, you can override it temporarily, and the thermostat will return to normal at the next time preset.

3.     Get innovative with a Lightstat thermostat.  These are fully automated with a temporary override as well, but these are also intelligent thermostats that don’t have to be switched from heat to air conditioning.  Instead, you set a minimum and maximum temperature for all times, and it uses the proper mechanism to keep the temperature between those presets.  Even better, whenever you are not home and all the lights go out for a certain period of time, a sensor within the unit turns off both heat and cooling functions, saving you the ultimate amount of energy.

With so many ways to install more energy efficient thermostats in your home, there is no excuse for wasting electricity and paying a great deal more money for what you don’t use.  Have a new thermostat involved with any or all of the above options, and guarantee yourself lower energy bills, less hassle, and greater overall comfort at home.

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