Dear Lifehacker,
I've been hearing a lot about "smart" thermostats like the Nest. I've heard they're programmable and can save me money on energy, but aren't all thermostats programmable? What's so special about smart thermostats? Should I buy one?
Sincerely,
House Hacker
Dear House Hacker,
Smart thermostats are all the buzz these days, but you're right—some of it is just a matter of smart programming. Here's what a smart thermostat can offer you, and how to decide whether you really need one.
What Is a Smart Thermostat, Anyway?
Regular thermostats let you adjust the temperature in your home—it's just a control panel for your heating and air conditioning system. Programmable thermostats let you set the temperature and have the thermostat change it based on the time of day. What makes most smart thermostats so "smart" is that they learn from your behaviors, allow you to control the climate in your home remotely, show you energy consumption in real-time, and can even adjust themselves based on ambient conditions like humidity.
For example, you can tell them to shut off after you leave the house for work, and then spring back into action in just enough time to make the house nice and toasty (or cool and comfortable, depending on the season) by the time you to get home. Most smart thermostats show you how long it takes to make the change you've requested, so you can see how effective your climate control system really is, and it discourages people from turning a thermostat all the way down to try "cooling off the house faster" (which never works). Plus, you can manage many smart thermostats from your phone or a webapp. From the remote interface, you can always see how much you're spending on heating or cooling costs, tweak the programming to you save money, and see the results immediately.
What Smart Thermostats Are There?
Smart thermostats usually come in two varieties: The type that learn automatically from your behavior and adjust themselves accordingly (and therefore don't even need you to program them), and the type that offer internet connectivity for remote management and programming. The best models fall into both groups.
You may be familiar with the Nest Thermostat, one of the first smart thermostats to hit the market. The Nest combines a good-looking design and a bright LCD that provides a wealth of useful data with powerful remote management apps and tools to help you save money. It's also a learning thermostat, which can sense whether someone's home, whether the air is suddenly getting humid, or someone's fired up the oven, and adjust itself accordingly. It's a pioneer to be sure, but it's not alone. Other models like the Ecobee Smart Thermostat and the Honeywell Prestige series (including the newly announced Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat) offer similar features like internet connectivity via Wi-Fi, mobile apps for remote management, and "learning" features that let it auto-program itself based on your habits.
The catch is that smart thermostats tend to be expensive. The Nest retails for $250, while the Ecobee varies between $200 and $500 depending on the model and features you want. Honeywell's models vary too, with some models requiring a professional contractor to come and install—so you can imagine how expensive they get. Almost any smart thermostat will require more money at the outset than a simple programmable model. The Nest and the Ecobee are designed so you can install them yourself if you're willing to tackle the project, but none of these are exactly "plug and play," so factor in the time and/or the cost required to have it installed when you consider the cost.
Will a Smart Thermostat Save You Money?
Whether or not a smart thermostat will actually save you money depends on a few factors. You have to consider how long it'll take for the initial investment to pay for itself, how long you plan to stay where you live, and whether you really need the bells and whistles. Here are some tips to address each point:
Install your smart thermostat yourself to make it pay off quicker. As we mentioned, the initial costs for a smart thermostat can be pretty high, especially if you have someone install it for you. Thankfully, you can install models like the Nest and the Ecobee yourself if you're up to the task. I've seen people say they installed the Nest in less than 15 minutes, though others have reported nightmare stories. Whatever you do, make sure to read the instructions carefully and maybe grab a handy friend to help, or check some tutorials on YouTube before you begin. If you can grab a bargain and install yourself, your thermostat will pay for itself sooner.
Only install a smart thermostat if you're sticking around for a while, or plan to take it with you to your next home. $300-$500 isn't a huge investment to a homeowner considering other home improvement projects, but for a renter, that's a ton of money—especially if your landlord might not like the idea of you modifying the property. I've seen some renters install their own smart thermostats, and then take them along to their next apartment. The longer you own it and the longer you use it, the sooner the thermostat will pay for itself. If you own, it obviously makes more sense, but if you take it with you, you can get the same benefits when renting.
Do you already have a programmable thermostat, or are you the source of the problem? Think about your own usage patterns. The EPA's Energy Star program concluded that homes with programmable or smart thermostats can save up to $180 per year on heating and cooling, which is a sizable chunk of change. Still, those same savings can be achieved with a more affordable programmable thermostat. If you already have one, a smart thermostat won't save you too much more money, aside from showing you what you can optimize to save a few bucks here or there. Similarly, if you're the type who religiously turns the thermostat off when you leave the house, and then turn it back when you come home, you may be able to get away with a more affordable programmable thermostat instead. You'll get all the energy savings, without the hassle of adjusting it yourself every day.
However, if you don't have a programmable model, or if you're the forgetful type who'll leave the AC or heater running all day even if you're not at home, a smart thermostat will really save you some money. The learning models can take all of the hassle out of managing your home's temperature, so you can just go about your daily business and let the climate in your house take care of itself. All you have to know is that it'll be comfortable whenever you're there.
Also, if you're the type who loves data and loves tweaking systems to improve them, a smart thermostat will definitely save you money on your energy bill. You can obsessively check your thermostat's mobile app to see how much money you're saving or energy you're actively using, and use the webapps to plot out how much more you can save if you adjust the temperature by a few degrees here or there. When Jason Chen cut his energy bill by a third, he used data to do it, and smart thermostats can give you a lot of the data.
Ultimately, all smart thermostats really do is take the hassle out of adjusting the temperature and climate in your home in a way that walks the line between comfort and energy efficiency. It stops cooling or heating an empty apartment so you don't have to remember to, and it makes sure you're comfortable when you're home. Remember, they don't save you money on their own—they just automate what you could do with a bit more discipline.
On the other hand, if the thought of manually adjusting the thermostat every time you leave, every time you get home, and thinking about whether you should change it for the amount of time you'll be gone running errands makes you roll your eyes, they may be worth the money you'll spend to get the savings back in the long run.
Sincerely,
Lifehacker
Title image made using Tom Grundy (Shutterstock). Photos by athriftymrs, David Berkowitz, Antonio Silviera, and Dave Friedel.
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