[00:00:00] Would you like to save money and be able to adjust your thermostat from bed? That's what we're going to talk about on today's episode.
Welcome to the your Energy Footprint podcast where we cover easy ways to lower your energy bill and other ways to make your home more sustainable, with a few energy industry highlights sprinkled in.
[00:00:19] Hi, I'm Robin Saidov and I've been in the energy industry for the past 20 years in both utilities and power generation, and I'll explain everything you need to know for some quick wins in your home to become more sustainable and save some money. Now let's dig in.
[00:00:35] Years ago I worked in supply chain at Baltimore Gas and Electric, and I had the demand response contract. When you signed up for the demand response program, you would get a free programmable thermostat installed. It was, and still is, a really great program that I was able to take advantage of even as a renter. Free thermostat. My landlord didn't mind and get rid of thermostat that was completely manual for free.
Getting the thermostat was also part of my due diligence to renegotiate the contract, which is a story for another day. But that is how I operate. I try to investigate all the facts from every angle back to thermostats.
Do you know what's better than a programmable thermostat? A smart thermostat. As a mom, if I'm laying in bed and it's too cold or too hot, there's nothing better than being able to adjust the temperature without having to get up, especially when there are stairs involved. Is anyone else afraid that a creaking floor when you get out of bed will wake up a kid?
Can you believe you can get these perks plus save money? First, you should go to your utility's website. You may be able to get a discounted thermostat if you sign up for a demand response program, which your utility may offer if you sign up. Generally, this program will allow your utility to intermittently turn off your air conditioning on the hottest days of the summer, when your utility expects the distribution system to be at maximum capacity.
When you sign up, there will be a few details about the program that you'll want to pay attention to:
- How do they notify you when they expect to implement the demand response program? Usually this is by text a day or a few hours before the event. With notice, you can precool your home so you can remain comfortable for the duration.
- Will they shut down your air conditioning for the duration of the peak event, which is maybe two or 3 hours? Or will your air conditioning still run for half of the event, like 30 minutes on and 30 minutes off? Can you opt out before the event? When I participated in a demand response program for the first time, I expected to always be at work during an event, which are most likely to happen on weekday afternoons. If this is the case for you, then you'll get great benefits and you likely won't even notice. If you stay at home, though, there are times that you may want to have the option to opt out. And you know what? I think my husband signed us up for a demand response in our current home and honestly, I have not even noticed and we do work from home.
If that all sounds good to you, you will likely also get a nice credit on your bill annually.
And just like we discussed in episode one with the light bulbs, reducing your electricity use during peak periods will add up and it may keep a fossil peaker from turning on. The additional upside is that utilities are required to contract capacity that is more than enough to deliver electricity as a percentage of their highest peak load. Let's say just to make up numbers. If their peak load was 100MW, then they would need to contract capacity for 110MW or 110% of their peak load. If the peak load doesn't increase, then this may prevent another fossil peaking generator from being built.
Just as a disclaimer, there are many different jurisdictions with many different regulations across the US that have different requirements for capacity as a percentage of peak loads. So my numbers are really made up, but you get the idea.
So you can get a smart thermostat with the convenience to control it from your phone, probably for free or with a hefty discount, a credit on your bill from your utility. Reduce carbon emissions now and in the future, and you're going to save money.
I went back and checked the dates for when we installed our smart thermostat in my current home, and conveniently, this happened to be at the end of our first summer. I compared our energy use over the first and second summer we had here. We have two thermostats, but initially we only installed one smart thermostat. The other one was a programmable thermostat upstairs that I honestly never took the time to change. The wiring was more complicated on the other thermostat, and so we held off on that for a while until an electrician came out. So with one smart thermostat, and probably no intentional changes to our preferred temperatures, can you guess how much we saved. Drum roll, please. Almost $600 just on electricity.
I don't have a direct comparison of heating costs because we didn't have a winter before we installed the smart thermostat, but I'm sure it's similar in the quantity of savings. How much do you think you could save?
So you may be wondering why I think switching even from a programmable thermostat to a smart thermostat will save you money. Other than the fact that I didn't change mine. First, programmable thermostats save you money because you limit the amount of time that your heating and cooling systems are running without changing your comfort in the house. And this could be true even if you're home all day. In my house, my husband and I both work from home. We do have a two zone system, and we have our thermostat set to keep the part of the house that we're in comfortable this winter. During the day, we have the downstairs thermostat set to 68 and the upstairs thermostat set to 58. Our house is really poorly insulated, so 68 degrees downstairs still feels pretty cold. My office is fortunately in a room that is warmed up with lots of sun in the afternoon, and I keep the doors closed to keep the heat in this part of the house.
My husband sits in the basement and uses a space heater to heat up the room he's in. Our upstairs heat with our settings really only turns on during two periods of the day. In the evening to warm up before we all head upstairs, and in the morning before we start getting out of bed, maybe it'll run a bit overnight to maintain the temperature in the mid-sixties.
The summer is basically the reverse of these settings. And yes, there is zero rocket science here. This is exactly what all the resources recommend if you spend just a few minutes looking into it online. The truth is, while I have known this for years, when you give me a programmable thermostat that I need to stand in front of for five or more minutes to program, I won't do it.
Case in point, the original thermostat we had upstairs in this house, and forget about making any changes to the settings. This is just not something that I want to add to my list of things to think about. But if I can set the schedule from the couch, count me in. The added bonus of smart thermostats is that you can add settings to let your thermostat know when your cell phone leaves the house, that you're away and it will automatically turn on in economy mode. You can also start warming up or cooling the house on your way home from vacation when your plane lands at the airport. Have you ever changed anything on a programmable thermostat before you go away for a week or two? That's savings right there.
So which smart thermostat should you get? Probably the one that your utility gives you, right?
If you'd like to do some research, I'll add a link in the show notes to the New York Times wire Cutter review.
We've used nest thermostats in four of our homes now. We've moved a lot and have been happy with them every time, so I can't speak to any other brands. There are two models, a cheaper, more basic one, and then there's one with a premium price. The base one is likely to be the one that you can get from your utility, and we've used it several times. No issues. The difference between the two is not really functionality, it's mainly the wiring setup. The division of labor in our house is that I install new light fixtures as long as the ceilings aren't too high and my husband installs the thermostats. Smoke detectors can go either way. Usually, Umed installs our thermostats in 30 minutes or so with no issues. The instructions are easy to follow, and everything you need, including the screwdriver, is in the box. In our current house, we have a 25 year old air conditioner, and yes, this scares me. The wiring was different, so he called an electrician to install thermostat. Because of this more complicated wiring, we needed to have the premium nest thermostat. If your air conditioning unit is currently within its expected operating life, fingers crossed, then this likely won't be an issue for you. If you do hire an electrician to install your new thermostats, it's a pretty quick job. You may want to have some other tasks ready for the electrician to do while they're there to make it more cost effective.
That's it for today. Are you going to go check out your utility's website to learn more about any demand response programs you may be eligible for? Are you thinking about getting your own smart thermostat?
Check out the show notes for the Wirecutter link and an article from the Department of Energy that goes into more detail on how to get the most out of your programmable thermostat.
If there are any topics you'd like me to cover in future episodes, please reach out and let me know. You can email me directly at
[email protected] or find me on instagram at @yourenergyfootprint.
On next week's episode, we're going to return to residential solar to talk about the big picture benefit, so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss it.
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All of our information is unbiased and based on my more years of experience working for utilities and as a renewable developer. We are not affiliated with any installers.
