Save 180 Dollars Per Year With a Programmable Thermostat
By Don Marshall

Most people just don't seem to understand just how much poor home energy efficiency affects their utility bills. It was easy to be complacent about it when energy costs were reasonably low. But in the past couple of years, heating oil, electricity, and natural gas prices have all gone through the roof.

That makes having an energy efficient home a necessity for most of us. One way to make your home more energy efficient is by installing a programmable thermostat. They are inexpensive, and provide you with an easy way to save a substantial amount of money on your energy bills.

With a traditional thermostat, you set the temperature manually, and that is all there is to it. But that can be wasteful as well as uncomfortable. But programmable thermostats allow you to program temperatures for different times of the day. For example, you probably don't mind turning down your thermostat at night while you're sleeping, since you can stay warm by throwing on a few extra blankets.

But you probably hate the thought of jumping out of bed in the morning and being greeted by a cold house. So you are more than likely to leave the thermostat set a few degrees higher at night, just to avoid that unpleasant scenario.

But if you use a programmable thermostat, you can program it to drop back to 55 or 60 degrees after you turn in for the night, and then raise itself back to a more pleasant temperature about an hour before you get out of bed in the morning. Viola, the problem is solved! You save money at nght, but still get to wake up to a warm home.

A programmable thermostat will not only make your home more comfortable in the winter, it can save you about about $180. per year, according to Energystar.gov. So even if you on a tight budget and you can't afford to increase your home energy efficiency by making big changes, you can still save a lot of money with a programmable thermostat, and your family will love you for it.

You can get many more free and easy energy saving tips for your home and auto, by visiting: Technology Green.

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