Residential Programmable Thermostats' Usability Impacts Effectiveness

Interesting article about residential programmable thermostats not saving as much energy as expected.

"BERKELEY, Calif.—Homes with programmable thermostats are not saving as much energy as expected and might even be using more compared to homes without them, according to research by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Tests and surveys conducted for the study found that users frequently had difficulty performing various tasks on programmable thermostats. One survey found that half of residential programmable thermostats are set to long-term hold, and 20% had the wrong time of day set on the units' internal clocks. Also, 89% of the respondents rarely or never used their thermostat to set a weekday or weekend program. One intention of the study is to develop a usability "score" for programmable thermostats.


Click here to read the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report, How People Actually Use Thermostats."


Source: ASHRAE