The department of energy estimates savings of about 1 percent for each degree of thermostat adjustment per 8 hours and recommends turning thermostats back 7 to 10 degrees from their normal settings for 8 hours per day to achieve annual savings of up to 10.
Energy savings per degree thermostat.
If everyone used an energy star certified smart thermostat we would save 56 trillion btus of energy saving 740 million each year and offset 13 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions each year equivalent to the emissions of 1 2 million vehicles.
Most programmable thermostats are either digital electromechanical or some mixture of the two.
Digital thermostats offer the most features in terms of multiple setback settings overrides and adjustments for daylight savings time but may be difficult for some people to program.
With the billions of data points that our mercury smart thermostat platform collects every month energyhub s in a unique position to see how well heuristics like that stack.
Retirees value comfort over energy bills.
On average i would estimate that adjusting your thermostat could change air conditioning costs about 10 percent per degree you change for the first few degrees from 75 degrees.
For example the doe s energy savers website says that you can generally save 3 on your heating bill for each degree that you turn your thermostat down during the winter.
If you set the temperature back for non occupied hours you won t realize any savings.