How to Correctly Go Green with a Programmable Thermostat and Save Money not Lose Money

With great green pride, your latest energy bill arrives and you excitedly open it to review the savings you have brought to your wallet and the planet after installing a programmable thermostat bought at your local home improvement superstore. However, something must be wrong. Your bill went UP not down and it was actually warmer this January than it was last January!

So what went wrong?

Programmable thermostats can bring you and the planet savings but you have to understand a little about how HVAC systems opperate most cost effectively.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Stop the big swing! During the winter drop the temperature a few degrees while you are out of the house or asleep, not 10 or 15. In the summer raise it a few. To save money and energy with a programmable thermostat you need to reduce the TOTAL amount of energy that you use across the whole day and not just during specific periods like while you are at work or sleeping.

2. Understand why the little swing works. To maintain 70 degrees for eight hours costs less than dropping to 55 degrees, maintaining for seven hours and then bringing it back to 70 degrees in an hour. If you calculate the BTU's expended bringing it back to 70 it is more than what is used to maintain it. There is a break even point for every system where you stop saving money and start costing you money.

3. What type of heat do you have? Some types of home heating are even more expensive with the big swing. A heat pump is designed to maintain temperatures and not create temperature differentials. It uses a supplemental resistance coil when you ask the system to bring up a temperature too fast. So if you go from 60 to 70 degrees with a heat pump it will cost even more than a gas or oil system would.

4. Baby steps with a Heat Pump. When you do drop the heat a few degrees with a Heat Pump, bring it back up in multiple steps of no more than 2 degrees at a time. This way the system will not use the resistance coil (read VERY expensive) mentioned in step 3.

5. Know thy buttons. Even without a programmable thermostat you can save energy by correctly using the system fan. Most forced air systems have an "On / Auto" button. This changes the blower in the system between always on and only on when the thermostat demands heat or cooling.

6. Use the already cooled air first. In the summer keep the system fan set to "On." This will get the cooler air in the lower parts of your house up and moving and even out the temperature in your house and the system will not run the compressor as much. The HVAC industry says that it will cost you about 50 cents a day to run this fan, but you will save 1 to 2 dollars a day by the compressor not running a frequently. Also moving air will feel cooler and you will not be as tempted to drop the temperature as much.

7. Remember the wind chill in the winter. The opposite of step 6 holds for the winter. While it will even out the temperature throughout the home to keep the system fan set to "on" during the winter, it will feel cooler because the air will be moving more. You will then be tempted to bump the temperature up and thereby cost you more.

8. When to ignore step 7. Remember that already cooled air in the summer that you want to spread around, well spread the already heated air around in the winter too. If your kitchen heats up from cooking, spread that heat around with the system fan. You paid for it, you might as well use it. If you have a lot of windows in your house that heat up a room with the winter sun, spread that around too.

Resources

• Energy Star Thermostat Guide