Upgrading your windows, investing in high-functioning HVAC equipment, and adding more insulation to your Portland, OR home are all effective ways to lower your energy costs and reduce your carbon footprint. However, you can also recognize significant savings by investing in a smart thermostat. Rich with cutting-edge features and functions, these devices can help you prevent energy waste in multiple ways.
Smart Thermostats Eliminate Human Error
According to the United States Department of Energy (DOE), homeowners can reduce their heating and cooling costs by up to 10% by simply lowering or raising their thermostat settings by 7 degrees during the nighttime hours and while they’re away from home. For instance, in winter, you can drop your thermostat setting just before going to work so that your heater isn’t working to maintain your preferred temperature when no one is home to appreciate it. You can do the same before going to bed given that you’ll have the warmth of your pajamas and comforter to offset the lower temperature.
These changes are both sensible and effective, and they won’t diminish your indoor comfort. However, they’re also easy to forget. Smart thermostats eliminate oversights and errors by making these adjustments on behalf of consumers with pre-set temperature changes. Best of all, smart thermostats are learning devices. By tracking resident behaviors, they eventually become adept at adjusting themselves. With branded apps and geofencing, some smart thermostats can seamlessly coordinate temperature changes with residents’ constantly changing schedules.
Track Your Energy Use
Among the best ways to identify HVAC problems, air leaks, and other efficiency challenges is by tracking changes in your home energy bills. With a smart thermostat, you won’t have to search for hard copies of your old energy bills or request digital copies from your utility service provider. Smart thermostats constantly track energy consumption, HVAC use, indoor air quality (IAQ) changes, and more. With the data that these devices share, homeowners can make informed decisions about HVAC upgrades and repairs, building modifications, and integrated IAQ accessories.
Receive Timely Alerts When Spikes in Energy Consumption Occur
With some smart thermostats, consumers don’t have to request energy reports or carefully study the available data to identify potential causes of increased consumption. With a smart thermostat’s branded app, you can have detailed energy reports sent directly to your mobile phone. You can also receive timely alerts when energy spikes occur along with notes on which features or factors to check.
Keep Your HVAC Air Filter Clean
Among the most common causes of HVAC problems and sudden increases in energy use are dirty air filters. When you receive an energy spike alert from your smart thermostat, you might additionally receive a recommendation to check and change your air filter. Many of these devices also send out regular reminders for filter changes so that homeowners don’t accidentally overlook this essential maintenance.
Monitor and Adjust Thermostat Settings Remotely
When you’re away at work or out running errands, there’s always the possibility of having other residents adjust your thermostat. Countless homeowners come home to discover that their teenagers or small children have cranked their thermostats way up or way down to expedite heating or cooling. Although setting excessively high or low temperature settings don’t make homes comfortable faster, this is a thermostat mistake that people of all ages have been making for decades.
Fortunately, smart thermostats are Wi-Fi-enabled. By using their accompanying branded apps, you can access yours via your mobile phone, tablet, or laptop, and from any location with a working Internet connection. You can constantly monitor and track the temperature changes that other people make. If you’re unhappy with a current setting, you can also adjust it remotely. With some devices, homeowners can even limit the ability to make adjustments to only those with special permissions.
Smart Thermostats Are Key Elements in HVAC Zoning Systems
Many homeowners in Portland are also zoning their central heating and cooling systems. With HVAC zoning, you can divide your home into two or more service areas and install a separate, independently controlled thermostat in each. Along with bypass ducts, duct dampers, and a central control system, zoning with smart thermostats allows residents to selectively heat and cool only the building areas that they’re actively using.
Energy Star, the joint project between the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the DOE, asserts that homeowners can reduce their energy bills by as much as 8% with smart thermostats alone. Pairing yours with HVAC zoning or high-efficiency heating and cooling equipment will allow you to optimize these savings.
With more than 30 years of experience, we proudly serve Portland, OR and the surrounding communities. We offer heating, cooling, duct cleaning, and indoor air quality services. We also provide maintenance, water heaters, heat pumps, and generators. Contact Climate Control today to schedule an appointment.
