GOPB Part 3 – The Thermostat

I pledge to regulate the thermostat to minimize energy use during unoccupied periods.

I’ll be honest. I don’t even know where the thermostat is in the office. I know . . . I’m a terrible green office advocate (but a great rock-paper-scissors player).

Even if I did know where the thermostat was it is unlikely I would need to adjust it often. Our office is also Chad’s home and, as such, is occupied pretty much all the time. The temperature is also kept at such a level as to provide the minimum necessities of comfort.

Now, some of you may be fortunate (or foolish) enough to have an office space separate from your home. This space is probably empty 50% of the time unless you are a severe workaholic in which case . . . seek help. For you non-workaholics (or at least less severe) this means you might be heating or cooling a bunch of stuff that doesn’t care how hot or cold it is like desks and chairs. Some quick adjustments to the thermostat on the way out could go a long way toward saving energy and a few bucks on the bills.

Chad’s Green Office Tips

Regulating the thermostat in your home or office is one of the easiest and most cost effective methods to reduce energy use. . The basic idea is to set the thermostat to a comfortable temperature only when people are occupying the office and then to change the setting when the office is empty to a temperature that will be easier to maintain.

This can be done manually or automatically with a programmable thermostat and can save up to $200 a year on your energy and cooling bills. It is relatively easy to assign someone, say your green office advocate, to adjust the temperature on the thermostat in the mornings and then again in the evenings when everyone is leaving work. An even easier way to make sure that the thermostat is being adjusted to the exact temperature desired at the right time every day is to buy a programmable thermostat.

A programmable thermostat can run as little as $30 so the payback is well under one year from energy savings. You can purchase models that will have one setting for the weekdays and another for the weekend (5+2), 2 different settings for each weekend day (5+1+1) or an individual setting for each day of the week (7-day). A 5+2 day model should be sufficient for most offices.

Currently I monitor and manually adjust our thermostat in our home/office based on the time of day, outside weather conditions and visitors we have in order to maximize efficiency. For most others that are not as crazy as I, a programmable thermostat is the way to go.

For more detailed info on this topic including recommended setpoints and times as well as purchasing guides, visit the energy star website brought to us by our lovely federal government.

This post is part of our ongoing, 30 part series breaking down the Green Office Pledge. Sign up for the pledge and be sure to check out the rest of the series for more tips and anectdotes.