Your thermostat controls the heating and cooling system that consumes more than half of the energy in your home—the biggest chunk of your family’s energy budget. How much of that energy is used to keep your house comfortable when no one is home or everyone is asleep? Probably a lot, if you don’t adjust the thermostat when you leave the house or go to bed.

Introducing the programmable thermostat! It automatically coordinates the temperature of your home with your daily and weekly/weekend patterns—so you don’t awaken to a chilly bedroom in winter or come home to a stuffy house in summer. Once you make the settings, you don’t have to adjust the thermostat again.

Power$mart Tips : Put the Power in Your Hands

• When replacing a furnace, air conditioner, or heat pump, look for the ENERGY STAR®. You can get additional information from the yellow EnergyGuide label to compare every model in a category, its capacity, and estimated yearly energy cost.
• ENERGY STAR® qualified geothermal heat pumps use the constant temperature of the earth to efficiently transfer heat to the home in winter or cool air to the home in summer. They require adequate land and an added up front expenditure.
• If you have a heat pump, dramatically turning up the heat by hand is costly because it may trigger the inefficient electric backup heater, eating up any savings from reducing the thermostat. (A programmable thermostat designed for heat pumps will gradually raise the heat without activating the backup heat.)
• When adjusting the thermostat by hand, remember that the house will not warm up or cool down any faster if you crank up the thermostat past the desired temperature. Besides, it is easy to forget to turn it back down, which will waste energy dollars.
• Poor performing ducts can leak conditioned air and reduce your system’s efficiency. Sealing duct air leaks and insulating ducts in attics and crawlspaces can improve comfort and save energy.
• Clean or replace furnace and air conditioner filters once a month during heating/cooling season.

FACT
An ENERGY STAR® qualified furnace or air conditioning system, when properly sized and installed, along with sealed ducts and a properly used programmable thermostat, can save consumers as much as 20 percent on heating and cooling bills.

FACT
For each degree you lower your thermostat in winter, you can save up to 5 percent on the heating portion of your energy bill (depending on your climate region).