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 ...
Tell that to 22,000 people in Colorado.
Uh, wires?
Years ago I believed the studies but my wife proved me wrong. We found it best to set it and forget it. Heat is heat and cold is cold and it takes more energy to recover from letting either rise or fall below the set point unless you do it for long periods of time. Overnight is not enough, while you are gone during the day is not enough.
The new craze seems to be setting the thermostat at 78 for cooling and 68 for heating, we did that ages ago and never changed. THAT does make a difference.
If you were already timed, going to a smart thermostat won't save much. If you were on a dumb thermostats where you turned it down when you left and up when you got home, the smart one would learn your habits and turn it up before you normally get home so it is warm when you get home, thus using more energy, but you wouldn't shiver for the first half hour after arriving.
What is your point?
I’m starting to wonder about this guy, but he is entertaining!
Our “routine” is so erratic, a “smart” thermostat would contact Alexa to find it a counselor. 😂✌
Interesting. One would think that upgrading from 6 SEER to 16 would show some improvement in electrical usage.
My 3 stage heat pump also feeds a lot of harmonics (dirty electricity) back into the house wireing due to the motor drive which uses an inverter to regulate the motor/compressor. I have stetzer emf filters plugged in throughout the house and installed a low pass filter in the heatpump feed line. I still have a bit too much emf generated when the heat pump is running.
Well, I do have electricity.
Got a youtube to help me out?
(good one)
I’m sure there is one out there that’ll show some sort of damper control to maximize airflow. 😂🙌
“smart”. Cuz your dum
Uh, “you’re”. Hello!? 😎👍
Never thought of emf issue before, hmmm.
His house is insulated to the hilt: garage, walls, floor, roof, between the windows in the cracks when they were building the house he had me and my brothers cram insulation in there like there was no tomorrow., he has good window and door seals. It is just him and my Mom and their electric bill is usually about $25-$35 less than mine when I was running the 80’s vintage heat pumps. Plus he has natural gas logs he uses at times. He’s has the unit checked several times and no issues most of the time. It’s a Goodman unit which I personally didn’t care for but he decided it fit his budget.
My house had a Goodman gas furnace / AC installed right before I bought it. Has been troublesome, but I noticed Goodman has been bought by the Japanese (Daikin) so maybe they shape it up.
I keep indoor temps in one place in winter and summer. I’ve always thought that fluctuating temps over 24 hours was too short a time to benefit since afterwards you have to heat or cool the room and all the stuff in it.
Smart thermostats aren’t about energy savings any more than climate change is about saving the planet or CoupFlu policy is about protecting public health.
You have stuff? 😎👍
I agree with this.
From December 2021 through September 2022 electric bill, my HVAC bill has ranged from about $30-50/mo for the kwh of electricity alone plus a fixed service fee add-on. Tennessee Valley Authority is the electricity producer, largely hydroelectric and nukes, lowest cost technologies.
One outdoor heat pump and two indoor exchange/blowers hanging on the wall. Each indoor unit has a variable speed blower, a programmable thermostat, motorized vanes to direct air up/down and left/right and an option to use a sensor to adjust the thermostat a few degrees higher or lower if no one is in the area. The outdoor unit has variable speed motors on its fan and compressor. Legacy central air components completely removed leaving only the blocked off floor registers.
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