As time marches on, technology advances in a multitude of ways, leading to appliances with more and more features. Every aspect of our lives is affected by these changes, from cleaning and food storage to climate control. Although the trusty old thermostat has been a part of human lives for more than a century, exciting new developments make newer models much more versatile than their predecessors.
Programmable Temperatures
One of the first modern breakthroughs in thermostat technology, the ability to program your heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system, offers a great way to optimize your energy usage. By programming your HVAC to turn on when you and your family members are going to be around the house — and off when you are not — you can make sure that you aren’t paying for climate control that no one is using. More modern systems allow for finer control of the times and temperatures involved and might let you go so far as to set different times for each day of the week.
Remote Access Technology
Nowadays, though, the keyword in thermostat technology is “smart.” Like many other devices in our lives, HVAC controls are gradually entering into the networked world of the Internet of Things, letting them interact with a wide assortment of your other possessions. The most obvious use of smart technology is that it allows you to monitor and change the temperature in your home from your smartphone. As long as your phone is in range of some internet signal, you are able to remotely interface with the thermostat, adjusting the climate so that your home is toasty or chilly when you return to it.
Weather Information
Going a step farther, some thermostats use internet connectivity to track exterior weather right from the panel. They offer displays that show the temperature outside where you are, along with any weather events currently moving through your area, such as thunderstorms and tornadoes. Having this information at your fingertips while you are setting the thermostat for the day is invaluable; it lets you decide what parts of the HVAC system you want to engage and at what time, all without your needing to check with some other device capable of pulling up a forecast.
Environmental Tracking
The Nest, considered by some the pinnacle of current thermostat technology, adds even more features onto the already robust template of the standard smart thermostat. The Nest tracks not only the temperature in your home but also a wide variety of other environmental factors, including lighting levels and motion. This lets it know when your home has people in it and when it is sitting empty. This, in turn, allows for very fine control of when your HVAC is on, as the Nest turns the system off if no one is home and turns it on when someone enters.
The thermostat might not be the flashiest of your home appliances, but it is certainly among the most important. Upgrading yours might be your ticket to lower bills and a more enjoyable home life.
