As a homeowner, would you say that heating and cooling consume the largest portion of your household budget? If so, you are not alone. We Americans collectively spend more than $100 billion annually on heating and cooling.
Heating costs can consume 35-50% of a homeowner’s budget depending on the local climate. Throw in summer air conditioning, and the costs grow even higher. So are there ways to bring those costs down – above and beyond traditional advice like improving insulation and installing a programmable thermostat?
Yes, there are. And it all begins with wrapping your head around the fact that modern life rarely follows static timetables. We need smart solutions that can adapt to the schedules we keep.
Smart Thermostats Aren’t Enough
Programmable thermostats were never the panacea they were made out to be because they were so difficult to use. Today’s smart thermostats are much easier thanks to screens and GUIs that make them as familiar as smartphones. But a smart thermostat alone isn’t enough.
Installing a smart thermostat is a good first step. But the device has limitations when deployed alone:
- Scheduling Assumptions – A standalone smart thermostat relies on static schedule assumptions, just like a traditional programmable model. It doesn’t know if you’ve left for work early, if you have left a window open, etc.
- False Triggers – Standalone smart thermostats might have their own built-in motion sensors, but those sensors only monitor the immediate area. There is no way for the thermostat to know that you are in a room at the far end of the house.
- Lack of Integration – By definition, a standalone smart thermostat is not integrated with other smart home devices. This limits its ability to be involved in smart home routines.
Standalone smart thermostats are certainly a better choice than their dumb counterparts. But if you really want to unlock maximum energy savings without sacrificing daily comfort, your climate control system needs to integrate with your home’s security and automation network. Here’s the good news: it is easier to do than you might think.
Real-World Climate Rules Reduce Waste
A fully integrated smart thermostat can be added to just about any major home automation platform. Take a package from Vivint, for example. A smart thermostat can be added to any Vivint package and thereby integrated with the entire system.
Vivint systems come with central control hubs and mobile apps as well. This allows you to create real-world climate rules that can actually reduce energy waste. Here are some examples:
1. Occupancy Sensing and Security Arming
Create a rule that ties your thermostat to your security system. When you lock the door on your way out, your security system is automatically armed. It sends a signal telling the thermostat that your home is unoccupied. Now your thermostat can run programming designed to save energy.
2. Stopping Open Window Energy Drain
Create another rule that ties your thermostat to perimeter sensors. Should you decide to sleep with a window open, the window sensors will inform the system so that your AC doesn’t run all night.
3. Geofencing for Smarter Control
Use your phone’s GPS capabilities to tie its location to your thermostat. When your phone exits a predefined perimeter, the thermostat adjusts for an empty home. Once your cell phone re-enters that perimeter, the thermostat adjusts for occupancy.
Manual and programmable thermostats are simply inappropriate for homeowners who want to maximize energy savings through home automation efficiency. Smart thermostats are the answer, but only if fully integrated into an entire system. With a smart thermostat and real-world climate rules, lowering those monthly energy bills is easy.