How much money does turning off the thermostat really save?

The unprecedented increase in energy costs this winter has many people asking how to reduce their bills. In a typical UK home, about 80% of the total energy used in a year goes to space and water heating, so any change in heating makes a difference. great.

The most popular advice is to reduce thermostat temperature. Worrying (because climate change) and fortunately (because of the cost of living crisis), fall has so far been extremely mild. But the temperature is now starting to drop. Therefore, my colleagues and I looked at our home data energy used to see how much energy is normally used at different thermostat temperatures.

The media has reported several estimates of the cost savings associated with varying the thermostat’s temperature. But these are usually based on theoretical savings using energy modeland their calculations are based on many assumptions about how the house will be used.

Instead, we looked at how much energy is actually used in 2021 in homes with thermostats set to different temperatures. (The temperature in 2021 is close to the 30-year average.)

We then calculated this cost using the current price cap for an average customer. Governments Guaranteed energy prices price cap at £0.34 per kilowatt hour for electricity, £0.103/kWh for gas and a flat fee of £0.46/day for electricity and £0.28/day for gas.

To find representative energy usage, we used data from SERL . Observatory. This was a project involving a representative sample of 13,000 UK households, which gave us access to their smartwatch metrics and other contextual data for research. for the common good (and for whom we are immensely grateful). For this analysis, we selected a small group of homes with central gas heating. They answered a question in our survey about what temperature their thermostat was set to during the winter.

We found that for every 1℃ drop in thermostat temperature between 22℃ and 18℃, the average home uses about £130 less energy. That price is based on the October 2022 price ceiling and a typical sized home (85 square meter floor space—the average in our sample and close to national average).

Larger homes will save more from lower thermostat setpoints in absolute terms, although the relative savings will be pretty similar. For every square meter, the average household in our sample uses about £1.10 less gas for every 1℃ reduction. They also use 40p less electricity per 1℃ and per square meter.

The interaction between electricity and gas use in the home is complex, but this reduction in power may be partly due to the fact that boilers use electric pumps to move water around the house and electric fans to conduct CO₂ and steam ( released when burning gas) to the outside of the house. It’s also partly because homes with higher thermostats are generally wealthier and have more electrical appliances.

Your mileage may vary

It is important to note that this does not necessarily mean that your home will save this amount. Importantly, our data is observational: we can see differences between groups of homes with different thermostat temperatures. We don’t see directly from our data what happens when people change their thermostat settings. This may be slightly different and will depend on the configuration and controls of the heating system.

Important factors that will contribute to the amount of energy saved by lowering the thermostat’s temperature include:

• how big your home is (larger houses save more and smaller houses save less)

• How quickly does your house lose heat?

• How many hours is your heating on?

• How cold or mild is the winter?

• rate you have for your energy bill (some people may still apply the previous rate).

Finally, remember that dropping temperature under 18℃ may affect your health not recommendedespecially if you are completely vulnerable.

For those who want to experiment with lowering the temperature by a degree or two—within the safe range—this can result in significant savings. This will not only help your finances but also the whole country (by reducing government spending to fund the Energy Price Guarantee and help reduce overall gas demand, as well as reduce carbon emissions).

This post was reposted from Conversation under Creative Commons license. Read original article.