New consumer research from Parks Associates indicates 54% of U.S. broadband households own a programmable thermostat, which can be an effective tool in reducing energy costs, except only 44% of owners are confident it is programmed correctly. Parks Associates' new whitepaper "Residential Energy Savings through Data Analytics" addresses innovations in HVAC controls and strategies that leverage data analytics to improve energy efficiency and to reduce consumers' energy bills.
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The whitepaper, sponsored by EcoFactor, explores new knowledge-based approaches that analyze household data to provide the optimum balance between cost savings and consumer comfort. A data analytics solution can reduce the runtime for an HVAC system by 36% compared to the baseline condition. These new solutions can benefit utilities and consumers by maximizing performance of thermostats and homes, increasing cost savings, and optimizing demand-response programs.
"The HVAC industry has expended considerable time and effort into improving equipment performance, but the operation of devices like programmable thermostats is in the hands of consumers," said Tom Kerber, Director, Research, Home Controls and Energy, Parks Associates. "Programming complexity and variability in personal schedules prevent many users from changing the set-point temperatures properly and so they fail to capture significant potential savings."
Heating and cooling are the largest component of the overall energy bill, but 54% of households with programmable thermostats do not program their thermostats to automatically change temperature set points throughout the day.
From the article, "Data Analytics for Consumer Heating and Cooling Systems Helps Generate Energy Savings by up to 36%."
