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Key Takeaways
- Smart thermostats optimize energy usage through features like remote access, schedules, location-based controls, and energy tracking.
- You can maximize benefits by choosing ENERGY STAR-certified models, ensuring correct installation, and taking advantage of utility rebates.
While convenience and connectivity are an integral part of the equation, energy savings and reduction in bills are the punchline with smart thermostats. With around 50% of your home’s energy consumption going toward heating and cooling, many homeowners are choosing smart thermostats to cut costs.
This blog explores how exactly smart thermostats save money and highlights key factors to keep in mind when making the switch to maximize their energy-saving benefits.
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How Do Smart Thermostats Save Money?
Due to the diverse array of features and innovations, smart thermostats provide remarkable energy savings, often paying off the initial purchase price within a year or two.
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Personalized Heating/Cooling Schedules
Smart thermostats allow you to set schedules that align with your daily routine. For instance, programming your system to adjust temperatures while you sleep or when the house is empty, such as during work hours, helps reduce energy wastage.
Setting back your thermostat 7 to 10F for 8 hours or more can help you save up to 10% on your bills. However, doing this manually every day can be a hassle. With a smart thermostat, you can easily schedule your setback times and enjoy greater savings.
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Location-Based Controls – Knows When You Are Home Or Away
Smart thermostats can detect your location at any given time and decide about your heating or cooling based on it using the geofencing feature. Your smartphone relays your location (provided you have granted access) to the smart thermostat, and depending upon your proximity to your home, it can make adjustments.
If you leave your house and cross a certain distance, the thermostat will automatically switch to your energy-saving settings. It restores your preferred settings as you return, so your home is always comfortable when you walk in.
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Energy Consumption Tracking
By keeping track of how much you use your HVAC system, you can better tailor your usage habits and adjust it to work more effectively and save money. Smart thermostats track real-time data, such as when your HVAC is running and at which mode, temperature, and fan settings. This information helps you take actionable steps to reduce your energy usage.
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Control From Anywhere
Even if you do not use geofencing or scheduling, you can still save energy using smart thermostats by remotely controlling your unit through your phone. Forgot to turn off your system before leaving? Need to tweak the temperature for changing weather? No problem – stay in control no matter where you are while reducing unnecessary energy consumption.
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Learning Capabilities
Some advanced smart thermostats can learn your routine and adapt to it. The more you use these smart devices, the more data they gain about your routine, creating your customised routine.
For instance, if you usually turn down when going to sleep, your learning thermostat will pick that up and will automatically make changes for you. This helps minimize energy consumption without requiring manual input.
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Integration With Other Smart Devices
With smart thermostats, you get ultimate flexibility. You can set up routines with smart home hubs such as Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. When using a smart home hub, you can control multiple devices in your home with a single tap on your smartphone app. Power up your air conditioning, turn on the lights, switch on the smart water heater, and unlock your main door, all by tapping a single button from anywhere, anytime.
Using automation rules with smart thermostats helps save money as you can program multiple devices to work in sync. For example, during mild spring days, you can set an automation to turn off the air conditioner and switch on a smart fan to save money.
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Enroll In Energy Saving Programs
Interconnectivity is the hallmark of smart thermostats, and power utility companies take full advantage of this fact. An increasing number of power utilities are offering energy-saving programs to their consumers, through which you can be eligible for payments during peak hours through demand response.
During times of high power demand, a power utility can control your smart thermostat with your consent and turn the temperature up a few degrees in the summers to reduce the power demand. This increase in temperature will not affect your comfort adversely. Still, when done at a larger scale, it can save the utility great amounts of fuel and expenses, allowing them to manage the demand surge better.
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Rebate Programs Provide Additional Savings
Another way energy companies promote smart thermostats is by offering rebates on these devices. For example, if a smart thermostat costs you $100 to purchase, your local power utility can provide a discount as an incentive to use the smart thermostats.
Apart from the energy savings that you get year-round through the use of a smart thermostat, you can now buy the device at a reduced price in the first place!
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Helpful Maintenance Alerts
While regularly cleaning and replacing your filters is highly stressed upon, it can still get shoved under the carpet in the big pile of home cleaning tasks.
Some smart thermostats provide helpful reminders to clean or replace the filters regularly. They keep track of when the cleaning is due and send timely notifications on your phone.
Important Considerations to Save Money with Smart Thermostats
When switching to smart thermostats, there are a few important factors to keep in mind to maximize your savings:
1. ENERGY STAR Certification
The ENERGY STAR certification is a label given to products that meet the strict energy efficiency standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Smart thermostats with this certification have undergone rigorous testing to ensure they help reduce energy consumption and benefit the environment.
On average, ENERGY STAR smart thermostats can save about 8% on heating and cooling costs annually. The actual savings may differ depending on factors like climate, temperature setting, and your HVAC system.
By choosing ENERGY STAR certified smart thermostats like Cielo Smart Thermostats, you can feel confident that you are making a sustainable and cost-effective choice for your home.
2. Correct Installation of Thermostat
It is crucial to install your thermostat in the right place to avail the full range of benefits. If your thermostat is not in a suitable location, it will not give accurate temperature readings.
Here are a few tips to correctly install your thermostat:
- Keep the thermostat away from sources of heat or cold. These can be fireplaces, heaters, windows, refrigerators, and other such equipment or places that do not reflect the room’s actual temperature. Keep it away from direct sunlight as well.
- Install the thermostat in a central area of your home, like a living room, to get the most accurate reading.
- Ensure that thermostat wires are correctly installed in their respective terminals.
3. Appropriate Temperature Settings According to the Time of Day
Getting a smart thermostat is only half of it. You need to use it properly to get the most out of it and have noticeable differences in energy consumption.
The table below by ENERGY STAR lists the perfect thermostat settings to help save energy. This can be used as an excellent reference, and you can then increase or decrease the temperatures as per your personal preferences. The temperature needs to be varied according to the time of day. When you are active in the home, the temperature can be turned down in summer or up in the winter. When you are away during the day (at work) or sleeping at night, the temperature can then be turned up in the summers and down in the winters.
If you are gone for a longer time, such as during vacations, then the schedule can be kept pretty constant, with the only change coming when the sun goes down and when it comes back up again.
| Setting | Time | Setpoint Temperature (Heat) | Setpoint Temperature (Cool) |
| Wake | 6:00 AM | < 70F | > 78F |
| Day | 8:00 AM | Setback at least 8F | Setup at least 7F |
| Evening | 6:00 PM | < 70F | > 78F |
| Sleep | 10:00 PM | Setback at least 8F | Setup at least 4F |
Smart Thermostats for Ductless Systems
If you have a ductless system like a mini-split, window, or portable unit, you can still make it smart!
Smart thermostats for ductless systems like Cielo Breez are designed specifically to work with these units. These devices provide the same benefits as smart thermostats for central systems—offering energy savings, convenient scheduling, and enhanced user control. With a dedicated smartphone app, you can manage your heat pump or air conditioner from anywhere in the world.
One major advantage of smart thermostats for ductless systems is their easy setup. Unlike traditional smart thermostats that often require complex installation, these devices are typically plug-and-play. You can unbox them and pair them to your room air conditioner or heat pump in just a few minutes, making the process quick and hassle-free.
In Conclusion
With features like scheduling, geofencing, energy tracking, and remote access, smart thermostats make it easier than ever to manage your home’s heating and cooling efficiently. Advanced capabilities, such as learning your habits and integrating with smart home systems, further enhance savings by optimizing energy use without constant manual adjustments. By choosing ENERGY STAR-certified models, installing your thermostat correctly, and taking advantage of rebate programs or energy-saving incentives, you can maximize your cost savings while contributing to a more energy-efficient future.
