Swap Your Thermostat for Green Temperature Control

Introducing what is probably the smartest thermostat in the world: The Nest.

Seriously, this thing is more intelligent than my smartphone, but it’s got good reason to be. Did you know that 50% of our energy bills come from our thermostat? 50%! That’s a pretty significant sum of money right there, and according to the EPA, a properly programmed thermostat can reduce your bill by about 20%. Keywords here being properly programmed, considering most of us either can’t figure out how to program ours correctly or just simply override it.

By using some complicated formulas that warp my mind to think too much about, the Nest sets a schedule for raising and lowering heat and cooling levels based on when you change the temperature. After a week of temperature changing, your work is done and Nest has created a personalized schedule, heating and cooling your space at the appropriate times. Not only that, but Nest’s Auto-Away feature kicks in the more it learns about your schedule, and turns off the heating or cooling whenever you’re out of the house. A little freaky that your thermostat knows when you’re home and when you’re gone? Yes. Energy and money savings worth it? Absolutely.

Make a positive impact on the environment and consider a green thermostat. And if the environment isn’t enough motivation for you, remember, after just a year of using a green thermostat, you’ll save almost $200 on your energy bill.