Save Energy & Money with Smart Thermostats

Samuel J Tan Home & Kitchen, Smart Home 0

Being smart with your energy consumption means being clever with your energy bills. Why heat the house when you are not around or set the same temperature throughout the day even when you are asleep. Use one of these smart thermostats to save energy and money.

Smart Thermostats are more than just connected thermostats. They have the ability to learn and tailor the heating and hot water systems to your needs. Not only will it schedule when to turn on and off the heating automatically, it will also set the temperature up or down based on your requirements. This will save you money and keep your energy consumption low, reducing your carbon footprint while you are at it.

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What To Look For When Considering a Smart Thermostat

Here are some of the common features found on smart thermostats.

Learn your usage patterns and daily routine and set itself automatically
Detects when you are home or away
Turn on and off the heating system or up and down temperature to suit
Control the temperature in the room taking into account outdoor temperature and time of day
Lets you monitor your energy consumption
Control your thermostat remotely on your mobile device from anywhere
Set your own schedule manually or override
If your heating system comes with a hot water tank, the smart thermostat lets you control it
Capable of operating on its own, not requiring a central hub
If battery operated, lets you know when to replace the batteries
Some smart thermostat support voice commands via Alexa or Google Assistant or Siri. You will need either an Amazon Echo or Google Home (or compatible devices) or Apple TV.
Works with other smart devices such as smoke and carbon monoxide detector, room temperature sensors, air quality monitors and smart radiator valves.

Typically, these smart thermostats are available to buy off the shelves or bundled with installation service. The later may be a better option unless you know professionals who can install it for you.

1. Nest Learning Thermostat 3.0

Easily the smartest thermostat in the market right now, it comes with a bright and smart circular display and a case that doubles as a dial. The smart thermostat also learns the way you like the temperature at home and when you need hot water and quickly adapt the heating system to make it more efficient.

All it needs is a week of learning and it will program itself. The third generation Nest Learning Thermostat has a new feature called Farsight. Using the beautiful display, it now shows more than just the temperature settings. It will display the weather, date and time as you walk pass as well as other information that help you plan your day. It’s more than just a pretty thermostat.

Features:

Learning thermostat, self programmable to automatically save energy
Nice and big circular display with no buttons
Control the thermostat from anywhere using the phone, tablet or computer
Works with Alexa
Available in four different colours, with or without professional installation

2. Netatmo Smart Thermostat

Netatmo Smart Thermostat offers the ability to set tailored schedules to turn on and off the heating as well as up and down the temperature settings. Netatmo claims that the thermostat will help reduce up to 37% of your energy bills making the device pay for itself in the long run.

Features:

Control the thermostat remotely
Monitor the energy consumption
Schedule when to turn on and off as well as the desired temperature settings
Auto-adapt function accounts for outdoor weather and home insulation
Low battery alert
Compatible with voice services from Amazon Echo, Google Home and Apple HomeKit

3. Ecobee4 Smart Thermostat

Ecobee 4 Smart Thermostat has built-in Alexa support. It comes with a room sensor to measure the temperature and detect occupancy. You can add more room sensors later if you wish. The system works on all types of energy from gas, oil, electric, dual fuel to heat pump. It even works with humidifier, dehumidifier and ventilator as well as other Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system. It works with weather data received over the Internet to regular the indoor temperature, helping you save on energy bills.

Features:

system is easy to install, most installs take approximately 30 minutes.
app offers a guided installation video to help the you started
works with major smart home ecosystems including Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple homekit, Samsung SmartThings, Wink and IFTTT

ALSO: Ecobee3 Lite Smart Thermostat

4. Hive Active Heating and Hot Water

Hive lets you control the heating and hot water tank at home with their Hive Active Heating and Hot Water thermostat. The thermostat has a state in time display to show you the current temperature and target temperature as well as your schedule and corresponding temperature. It also comes with a dial and three buttons to access all the functions directly on the thermostat. For even more controls, use the Hive app. The system comes in three parts:

Hive Hub
Hive Active Heating and Hot Water Control Thermostat
Hive Receiver

Features:

control heating and hot water directly on the thermostat
scheduling function to heat water when needed
works with Amazon Alexa
available on its own or professionally installed by engineers.

5. Honeywell Lyric T6 Wired Smart Thermostat

Honeywell Lyric T6 is available as a wired system or wireless. It comes with a friendly touch screen interface for eacy access to the different features. While the on screen menu is intuitive and easy to use allowing you to set your schedule, change and override temperature settings, you can also use the Honeywell Home app to control the same. Using the phone’s location services, it can tell the T6 when you are away from your home and set the temperature accordingly.

Features:

Easy to use touch screen interface with large display
Apple HomeKit enabled so you can control it on the iPad or iPhone.
Control your heating system remotely over the Internet using the app
Or use the automated controls that works with the location services on your phone to determine if you are home or away
Schedule the heating with 7 day, 5/2 day and single day scheduling with up to 6 different time settings per day.

Honeywell Lyric T6 Wired Smart Thermostat

BONUS: Tado Smart Thermostat V3

It works with your heating system to regulate the indoor temperature in your rooms. The system can pick up when you are at home or out and set to work controlling the boiler or air conditioner. It does this using geo-location on the app for your mobile device and learn your behaviour and routine. You can also set it to control individual room temperatures and it works with Alexa and Google Assistant for voice control and home automation.

Features:

Control your heating remotely via app on the tablet, PC or phone.
Version 3 works with Amazon Alexa for voice control and automated scenarios
New multi-zone control and optimised algorithms for even smarter heating for each room but will require additional Smart Thermostats and Smart Radiator Thermostats
Geofencing via smartphone with app available for iOS, Android and Windows

Nest Thermostat E

The cheaper of the Nest thermostats, the Nest Thermostat E is stealing the spotlight from its long and well established sibling. Instead of a super sharp, round and full colour display, it uses a more simple approach by projecting light over white frosted surface. The simple white plastic housing also helps keep the cost down.

The Nest Thermostat E offers amazing value as you get to enjoy all the same intelligent and energy saving tricks like those found on the more expensive thermostat. Using clever learning algorithms, it learns when you are away and at home, heating the house based on your preferences. With the Nest app, you can also control it from your phone remotely.