Did you know that you can save money on your air conditioning and heating bills by simply choosing an optimal thermostat setting? It’s true, and according to the Department of Energy, you can actually save up to ten percent WITHOUT sacrificing your comfort! Here’s how…
Simply set your thermostat seven to ten degrees higher at hotter times and lower at cooler times when it is comfortable for you, such as when you are gone from eight to ten hours a day for work and when you are away from home on the weekends. Setting your thermostat lower during the winter months, when you are snug in your bed at night, works energy savings wonders too!
If you are hoping for faster results, one thing you don’t want to do with your thermostat is to set it higher or cooler than your desired temperature. This could result in excessive cooling or heating as well as an excess in cost.
As you might imagine, the higher you keep your home’s interior temps during the hotter months, the less energy you will lose to the external environment and during the winter months, lower interior temperatures result in slower heat loss.
Programmable thermostats, which can be digital, electromechanical or a combination, can also help by reacting to heat or cold with a pre-set schedule you choose. Most programmable thermostats allow for several settings a day and you can manually override your program whenever you want. Unexpected heatwave or popping home for lunch one day…no problem!
