Programmable Thermostats Offer Untapped Potential
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), energy costs for heating and cooling together comprise about 42% of consumer home energy expenditures, on average. Yet much of this energy expenditure seems to be used for space conditioning during times that the home is unoccupied or occupants are sleeping. Therefore, these “unoccupied” periods represent an often-untapped opportunity for reducing home energy consumption. Twenty-five million households currently have a programmable thermostat. To date, 91 million households use thermostats for their home heating, and many of these households offer a market opportunity for programmable thermostats.
Sales of programmable thermostats have doubled in the last 10 years. With this increase in market penetration comes the need to address consumer usability issues to aid in future potential energy savings for consumers.
If these issues can be addressed sales could increase further helping to improve energy efficiency across the nation.