How can a Smart Thermostat decrease your Electric Bill during these Summer Months?
As we enter the heart of summer, we also enter the hottest days of the year. For most people turning on their air conditioners is one way to deal with the heat. However, it is normally accompanied by an increase in their energy bill. For homes with older AC systems, this increase can be more significant than those with updated systems.
One way to help mitigate this increase is the addition of a smart thermostat to your home AC system. Smart thermostats help homeowners to take the guesswork out of finding the balance between comfort and energy-efficient.
What is a Smart Thermostat?
To better understand how a smart thermostat helps to increase your home’s energy efficiency it is important to know how a smart thermostat is different from other types of thermostats. The first component of a smart thermostat is the WIFI connection, which enables you to control the thermostat remotely. Another component of a smart thermostat is the ability to learn and optimize your energy usage based on when you are home and previous temperature preferences. Some smart thermostats have even more features like HVAC diagnostics, energy consumption, smart speakers, or geofencing.
Benefits of a smart thermostat
For homeowners planning to spend more than a year in their home, a smart thermostat can be considered a good investment. Some of the benefits of a smart thermostat include:
- Ability to remotely control home temperature
- Ability to monitor your heating/cooling usage
- Scheduling HVAC usage
- Movement Sensors
- Compatibility with other smart devices
- Make changes based on weather
- Voice Commands
- Environmentally friendly
While all smart thermostats have a few common capabilities, the more expensive they are the more features they have. When trying to determine which thermostat is best for your home consult a professional HVAC contractor in your area.
Can smart thermostats decrease your energy bill?
The short answer is yes, they can. The amount of savings will differ depending on how much effort you currently put into monitoring your energy usage along with your goals for installing a smart thermostat. While smart thermostats take human error out of monitoring your heating/cooling it doesn’t automatically equal massive savings.
As previously mentioned, smart thermostats learn from your behaviors and will program themselves to be the most energy-efficient possible for your climate. With a smart thermostat, it is easy to program your HVAC system to run less when you are out of your home, which results in using less energy. There is a range of energy-saving from smart thermostats, with the majority of models saying they save between 10 and 20 percent on heating and cooling costs. To reach maximum savings it is important to review the smart thermostat has a whole and track energy usage.
Overall, a smart thermostat can help you reach a peak level of energy efficiency within your home. Each make and model of smart thermostats provide their own benefits and features. Over time the benefits will help you to better understand your energy usage and in turn, allow you to program you HVAC the best way possible for you home.
