How using a smart thermostat saves you money

According to Natural Resources Canada, almost two-thirds of all home energy use goes toward space heating. As such, your electric usage may drop dramatically if you use a smart thermostat to track when and where to run your heating and cooling unit. Here's what you need to know.

A smart thermostat is a device that communicates with your heating and cooling system via the Internet. This communication allows you to control your thermostat remotely via the web.

Smart thermostats also offer programming functions that can adjust your home's temperature according to need.

Imagine waking up in the morning with your house at a comfortable temperature.

Then, when you get home from work, the house is still comfortable.

And, when you go to bed, the temperature drops by several degrees and increases an hour before you wake up. It also drops while you're at work and increases just as you walk in the door in the evening.

Your zoned heating and cooling system becomes even more efficient when combined with a smart thermostat.

A smart thermostat uses a zoned system to determine temperature needs in various parts of your house at different times.

For example, if you spend your evening hours on the upper floor, the downstairs doesn't need as much heat.

Or, with a smart thermostat, you can adjust only the downstairs temperature, leaving the upstairs toasty warm.

You can even set a smart thermostat to heat both levels of your house, maybe as you get dressed and eat breakfast in the morning.

The result is heating and cooling when you need it, where you need it.

A programmable thermostat offers a lot of the same functionality as a smart thermostat because it allows you to set times and zones for heating and cooling.

Of course, that only works if you actually program the unit.

According to Nest.com, one of the leading smart thermostat producers, 89 percent of households with programmable units never get around to programming them.

Smart thermostats don't have this problem because they remove the user setup.

They note when rooms are occupied and learn when to change temperatures based on this information. Information that they store and analyze to recognize usage patterns automatically.

A smart thermostat can save homeowners hundreds of dollars over the life of a unit.

Plus, these thermostats have helpful features that let people remotely control their home environments. That means that vacationers can turn the temperature up or down using an app or web tools.

Not only does this remote control capability help control costs, it ensures that homeowners always walk in the door to a comfortable temperature.