Thermostats control the heating and cooling systems that keep our homes comfortable, but they also have a major influence over residential energy usage and electricity bills. Newer programmable and smart thermostats are designed to optimize temperature control for both efficiency and convenience.
Brands like Ecobee and Siemens offer smart thermostats with scheduling features, remote sensors and connectivity that provide more precise regulation, resulting in energy savings of up to 10 percent per year.
For the average household, a smart thermostat can reduce annual utility costs by hundreds of dollars. They are also integrated with home automation for an improved experience.
In this article, we’ll explore tips for leveraging your programmable or smart thermostat to maximize energy and cost savings. We’ll look at examples from two of the leading smart thermostat makers – Ecobee and Siemens.
Whether you want basic programmability or a fully smart climate control system, optimizing your thermostat can yield significant benefits. By reprogramming your schedule, taking advantage of smart features like remote sensors, linking to home automation and adjusting temperature levels, you’ll be well on your way to increased efficiency and lower energy bills.
Programmable and smart thermostats put precision temperature regulation and the power to save at your fingertips. With some simple changes to your thermostat settings and habits, you can cut consumption and control costs for comfortable living.
Optimize Your Thermostat Programming
One of the best ways to save energy with your thermostat is to optimize its programming for your household’s routine. Both Siemens thermostats like the Siemens iQ500 Smart Thermostat and Ecobee thermostats such as the Ecobee SmartThermostat allow you to set customized heating and cooling schedules for weekdays, weekends and vacations.
For weekdays, program your thermostat to account for sleep times and periods when no one is home. For example, program it to decrease temperatures by a few degrees during the typical workday and increase an hour before the household is active again.
For weekends, adjust the schedule to account for later mornings and more time spent at home. Enable features like “Smart Away” on your Ecobee thermostat to automatically override the schedule using the built-in sensor to detect when the home is unoccupied, adjusting temperatures to maximize efficiency during vacancy.
When going on vacation, program your thermostat to maintain a lower energy-saving temperature during the duration of your trip. You can do this manually on a Siemens thermostat or use the scheduling features on the Ecobee and similar connected thermostats to indicate the dates you will be away. This prevents the system from heating or cooling an empty home, which wastes a significant amount of energy.
Some additional tips for programming your thermostat include accounting for holidays, adjusting the schedule in months where heating or cooling needs fluctuate, and revisiting the schedule at least once a season to ensure the temperatures programmed align with your household’s current needs.
With regular schedule optimization for lifestyle changes, you can achieve consistent energy efficiency over time. Programmable and smart thermostats make adjusting heating and cooling schedules simple to keep utility costs in check.
Take Advantage of Smart Thermostat Features
Smart thermostats like many Ecobee and Siemens models offer innovative features beyond basic programmability that can enhance temperature control and energy savings. One useful feature is remote sensors that detect occupancy in multiple areas of the home.
Ecobee thermostats support multiple remote sensors to ensure even heating and cooling throughout living spaces. The thermostat uses the sensors to determine which areas are occupied and adjust temperatures accordingly based on your schedule. This prevents conditioning unoccupied rooms and improves comfort when you are home.
Geofencing is another feature that uses your smartphone’s location to detect when you are leaving or approaching the home. As you leave the geofenced area around your home, the thermostat will switch to the “away” mode to minimize heating or cooling an empty house.
When you return, it restores the temperature to your usual setting. Some KMC thermostats also offer geofencing for efficiency when you are away from home.
“Smart Away” is found on Ecobee thermostats and uses the built-in sensor and connected remote sensors to detect when the home is unoccupied after a period of activity. It will enter an energy-saving away mode until presence is detected again in the room with the thermostat or remote sensors. This provides automatic temperature adjustment when you are away for added efficiency on top of an optimized programming schedule.
Features like remote sensors, geofencing and Smart Away on programmable and smart thermostats allow for more intelligent temperature regulation. By leveraging these technologies, you can achieve even greater energy savings without much additional effort.
Staying on top of software updates for your thermostat will also ensure you have the latest features for maximizing efficiency through automation and control. Smart thermostats put an entire home’s intelligent climate control right in the palm of your hand.
Integrate with Home Automation
Wi-Fi thermostats such as Ecobee Smart Thermostats and Siemens iQ Series models work with popular home automation platforms like SmartThings, Alexa, and Google Home. This allows for centralized management of temperature control along with other connected devices in your home.
You can adjust your Ecobee thermostat by voice command through an Echo or change settings in the SmartThings app. Siemens thermostats are compatible with SmartThings, Nest, and Honeywell Total Connect.
Linking to a smart home hub enables scenes and automations that improve efficiency. A “Goodnight” scene could switch off lights, lock doors and adjust your thermostat in one step. An “I’m Home” automation can set a comfortable thermostat level when you arrive.
With software updates, many Wi-Fi thermostats act as their own hub controlling devices like humidifiers, air purifiers, and fans for ideal climate control. Connecting your thermostat to home automation provides convenient and synchronized temperature management and the potential for energy optimization through centralized smart home control. A smart thermostat is key for efficiency in an automated home.
Adjust Temperature Settings for Energy Savings
The temperatures you set for heating and cooling have a significant impact on your home’s energy usage. Programmable and smart thermostats from Ecobee, Siemens and other brands make it easy to adjust temperature levels for efficiency.
For heating, setting your thermostat to 68°F while home and 4-6 degrees lower while sleeping or away can yield energy savings of up to 10% per year. When cooling, setting temperatures to 78°F while home and a few degrees higher when absent or sleeping can result in similar savings.
Siemens and Ecobee thermostats allow simple scheduling and adjustment of temperatures through the thermostat interface or mobile app. Ecobee thermostats also have “comfort profiles” that provide pre-optimized guidance for temperature settings in various modes like “Home”, “Away” and “Sleep” for energy-efficient temperature control through your schedule.
Some additional tips for setting efficient temperatures include turning off your thermostat fan switch during heating and cooling seasons, using ceiling fans or portable fans for circulation instead of lowering temperatures, and keeping interior doors open to allow even heating and cooling of spaces based on your programmed schedule.
With smart thermostats, geofencing and occupancy-sensing features can help automatically adjust temperature settings for energy savings as you come and go from the home.
But optimizing your manual temperature levels around suggested guidelines is the first step to leveraging your thermostat for increased efficiency. By reducing energy consumed for heating and cooling, you’ll see lower utility bills each month while maintaining comfort.
Additional Tips for Conserving Energy
Most programmable and smart thermostats offer extra features that provide energy savings. On Ecobee thermostats, enable “Smart Recovery” to optimize the rate of heating/cooling to reach your programmed temperatures efficiently. siemens thermostats may have an “Eco+” mode that makes small temperature adjustments during runtime to increase efficiency without compromising comfort.
Performing regular maintenance like cleaning air filters and HVAC vents will improve circulation and allow your system to run more efficiently. Ensuring air registers and returns are fully open and unblocked in all living areas will allow for proper temperature regulation based on your thermostat’s scheduling.
Keeping doors open during transitions between temperature modes helps your thermostat and HVAC system effectively heat or cool all desired spaces. Using a thermostat’s “Hold” function as little as possible will prevent overriding the programmed schedule, which can waste energy if used improperly.
These additional tips supplement an optimized thermostat schedule and smart features with proper HVAC maintenance and airflow, allowing your temperature control systems to operate at maximum efficiency. Small changes add up to considerable energy and cost savings over time. Your thermostat is the hub for achieving the benefits of energy efficiency through precision regulation.
Reduce Costs
With programmable and smart thermostats from Ecobee, Siemens and more, you can slash energy usage by optimizing temperature control in your home. Adjust schedules for your needs, use geofencing and sensors, link to home automation, and pick efficient temperature levels.
HVAC maintenance and proper airflow let your systems run efficiently. Minor changes like limiting “hold” function use or enabling “Smart Recovery” significantly reduce costs over time.
Smart thermostats provide affordable, convenient energy management. Take control and lower your heating and cooling bills each month while optimizing comfort. Follow the tips in this article and cut energy costs by up to 10% annually by maximizing your thermostat.
Optimization leads to efficiency for smart living. Shorten your total runtime, improve recovery and temperature precision, shift into higher EER for part load conditions, reduce overshoot and undershoot of setpoints.
It takes making incremental changes to temperature control facilities through proactive monitoring and measurement for strategic energy reduction. Your smart thermostat can make this more cost-effective and easier to achieve substantial energy savings over the long run if leveraged to its full potential.
