Posted on 09/22/2022 6:47:45 AM PDT by rktman
A new study reveals that those "smart" thermostats installed, often at great expense, in homes actually cause the energy consumption to rise, not fall.
"Engineering estimates from the California Technical Forum …. predict that smart thermostats will produce substantial reductions in energy consumption," the report, called "The Human Perils of Scaling Smart Technologies: Evidence from Field Experiments," said.
It was released by authors from Johns Hopkins, University of Chicago, University of Southern California and University of Alabama.
They studied the smart thermostat impact on energy consumption using data over an 18-month period including more than 16 million hourly electricity use records and almost 700,000 daily observations of natural gas consumption.
"The most relevant estimates to our experimental sample come from Department of Energy Technical Reference Manuals, which are annual reports produced by energy providers and regulators. These reports primarily rely on engineering simulations and survey data to predict the effects of energy efficiency programs at scale.
"These predictions are then used by energy providers to justify expenditures on energy efficiency programs. Mapping these predictions for Californians, which vary by climate zone and the size of a home, to our experimental samples we find that savings of 1.3% and 4.0% are respectively predicted for overall electricity and natural gas consumption."
However, those thermostats were found to "fail to deliver the expected energy savings."
The researchers said, in their nearly 100-page report, those thermostats "actually increase electricity and gas consumption by 2.3% and 4.2%, respectively," the report found.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
The report explained the problem was not necessarily one of usability.
"In fact, researchers observed, nearly all users with the smart devices programmed them almost immediately, and many did so with energy savings in mind," the report said."
Think I'll stick with stoopid. NVEnergy has been pushing these to customers for free. NOPE! Ask the folks in Colorado how they like them now........... 😵💫🥵🔥⛄📴
My house came with two - both of which went into the trash as soon as I moved in.
Useless.
Put it does increase their power. And that’s what it’s all about.
Nice.
Either mini-splits or variable speed heat pumps are the way to go.
What in the world does “undo the good stuff” mean?
Are the defaults set unrealistically? If they’re being set to “normal” then why are they consuming MORE energy?!
>> These reports primarily rely on engineering simulations and survey data to predict the effects of energy efficiency programs at scale.
Hmm, would those be computer simulations? We seem to have forgotten GIGO!
“’Fail to deliver the expected energy savings’”
They seemed to work just fine in the above regard, in Colorado, when they all went up to 88 degrees and couldn’t be lowered.
I have a smart thermometer that’s more than 30 years old. When the temperature drops below a preset level, the furnace come on and then shuts off automatically. It even has a switch for cooling so that the air conditioner comes on in summer. It’s amazing!
A lot depends on your lifestyle. The thermostats that are supposed to “learn” your habits & adjust accordingly don’t work very well. I would avoid any thermostat that connects to your WiFi.
Just got a new “smart” thermostat for my home - I had my techie son-in-law make sure it does not link to any “city services” - I keep getting messages asking if I’d like to save some $$ by “allowing” further services (or some other kind of weasel words) from the city.
Absolutely not. I don’t need the city cranking up my thermostat to 85 degrees when it’s well over 100 degrees outside - and there won’t be a thing I can do about it.
My guess is that all new homes will be mandated to have this “service” on their a/c systems.
On a similar note, we went from a single stage heat pump to a much more expensive 3 stage heat pump. I could not see any improvement in electrical use between the year before and after the switch.
The 3 stage runs in low most of the time, making the system a lot quieter but doesn’t seem to be any more efficient.
Not sure. There is testing world and real world. According to the piece the consumers didn’t have a problem programming them. Me” ON/OFF and desired temp.
My apt complex put these things in.
Set it for a specific temp and its supposed to turn on when the heat/AC temp is 3 degrees below or above the set temp.
It routinely turns on even though the thermostat reads, for example 78, and is set at 78.
Heat or a/c.
It will turn on for zero reason,
and I have to cycle it through a few times to get it to turn off ,
and even then it continues to run for a few minutes
after being turned off.
Duh. ‘Smart thermostat’ is an oxymoron.
The data has been there for decades that a thermostat is energy conserving by maintaining temperature.
Just more climate change BS.
I do like the suggestion I’d read weeks ago that we visit government offices and inquire why they didn’t modify their OWN temperatures.
Well, NVenergy did switch over the elec and gas meters to be connected but the thermostats stay under my control. For now. As long as nobody spills coffee on the keyboard at the power plant we should be okay for a few minutes. 😎👍
We have 3, BUT we set the program MANUALLY.
WHY?
We have residential solar and have programmed the HVAC to work hardest when we are exporting ‘excess’ power. Exported power only earns 4 cents per kilowatt hour but we pay north of 12 cents per kWh. So by being smart ourselves, not using algorithm, we run our HVAC for ‘free’ using excess power and DO save money for real.
The best part of these Nest thermostats is that I can adjust them from my phone, from anywhere.
Lived with one of these when I purchased my home. When I purchased a new HVAC I ditched them immediately. There’s nothing worse than waking up in the middle of a summer night and the thermostat is set and you’re soaking wet. HATE THEM.
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