Not sold on setting your thermostat to 78 degrees? These tips will help you set it at
the right temperature for you. One of the most widely used statistics online
is 78 degrees Fahrenheit, which has been the target thermostat setting in summer. That
standard came in 2019 from ENERGY STAR, a federal program of the Department of
Energy and Environmental Protection Agency. The goal was for consumers to get
needed cooling while saving energy. Five years later, consumers are sweating
out record-breaking heat waves and spending more time at home. That 78
degrees sounds even less appealing now than it did in 2019, and experts and
homeowners are looking for a cooler solution.
The savings from a higher temperature are undeniable. You’ll save about 3%
on your utility bill for every degree you raise the set temperature for your
central air, says the Department of Energy. But despite that benefit,
Americans keep their thermostats set at about 71 degrees day and night,
according to a “Consumer Reports” survey from June 2021. CR recommends
looking for a “happy medium” between staying cool and lowering your energy
bill. For example, you can raise the temperature one degree at a time to see
how it affects your household’s comfort and finances.
Tips to Beat the Heat Inside Your Home
The standardization of the past has given way to flexibility, says DR
Richardson, founder of Elephant Energy based in Colorado and
Massachusetts. “Every home and every homeowner are a little bit different.
We never recommend one static temperature day in and day out for any
homeowner. It really has to reflect what the homeowner’s goals are, the
homeowner’s budget, how efficient their system is, what condition their
HVAC is in, and the evenness of the cooling.”
Know your household’s habits and goals. So, even though some people
turn their AC way down at night to save money, you may have a hard time
sleeping when it’s hot. “So, having a lower temperature at night might
actually make sense,” Richardson says.
Wait to lower the AC after the first time. If you’re uncomfortably warm
after lowering the AC, wait a while before going into panic mode and
turning the setting down a few more times. An HVAC system takes a long
time to respond to changes in a thermostat. The temperature in the house
has to adjust to not just the air, but also heat from the sun, the leakiness
of the home, and the temperature of the walls and objects like furniture
and rugs.
2. Limit your activities to areas of your house that tend to be the coolest.
Those could be rooms with fewer windows or downstairs, where it’s
typically cooler. That will help you avoid the uneven temperatures that are
almost inevitable in a house. “The thermostat is reading one temperature
in one part of the house, and it’s really hard to get that temperature
evenly distributed across the entire building,” he says.
3. Consider mini-splits. These heating and cooling systems allow you to
control the temperatures in individual rooms or spaces without ductwork.
“It’s sort of twice the size of a breadbox and sticks on a wall,” Richardson
says. “It provides airflow in just that room. It’s like zoning, only way
better.” You need a box in each room, but you can set the temperature in
one room at, say, 68 degrees and in another room at 78.
4. Set your thermostat so the fan runs more frequently. If you have an
Ecobee or a Nest, you can set the fan to run continuously. “When you
have a forced air system, oftentimes the hot air rises. so you get a really
warm second floor. But if you run the fan, you can be cycling the air
throughout the entire house, which creates a much more even
temperature.”
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