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If you’ve automated your home as discussed in Step 1, you’re ready to optimize.
Make it Automatic – Then Optimize
Optimization is just fine tuning your settings. See how far you can turn down the heating temperature at night. Then see how far you can turn the heat down during the times you’re actually using the house. Try this during the cooling season, too with the AC.
This step should come with some warnings: if you’re living with other people, this may result in snide comments and unexpected changes in your temperature settings. If this should happen, try to clearly communicate what you’re up to, and why. If that doesn’t work, install tamper proof boxes around the thermostat (just kidding). Now, depending on the age and temperament of your kids, this could be a “teaching moment” as they say. Or not.
Optimization is a step that should be repeated here and there, just to make sure it’s working for you and those living with you. If you haven’t installed such a thermostat before, the savings here can be pretty significant.
Setback Temperatures? Doesn’t That Just Use More Energy?
One objection I hear often is that it takes more energy for the heating/cooling system to start up again in the morning if you turn it down low the night before. So, we ran a simple simulation. We compared the amount of energy consumed in two situations, and then compared them.
Situation 1: No setback at all – the temperature during the day was the same at night
Situation 2: Setback the temperature while sleeping
We found that there are significant savings to setting back the temperature at night. These savings increase, of course, if your home is well insulated.
Coming Up Next . . .
Again, I think it works best to save the behavioral changes for last, as I discussed in Step 1. So, next I’ll be discussing what to do to make your home more energy efficient once you’ve automated and optimized. We’ll be moving from the basics to more advanced steps.
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