Field Evaluation of Programmable Thermostats

Sachs, O. ; Tiefenbeck, V. ; Duvier, C. ; Qin, A. ; Cheney, K. ; Akers, C. ; Roth, K.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (U.S.)

关键词: Buildings;    Heating;    Fraunhofer;    Thermostat;    Hvac;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1059166
RP-ID  :  DOE/GO-102012-3804
RP-ID  :  AC36-08GO28308
RP-ID  :  1059166

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

Prior research suggests that poor programmable thermostats usability may prevent their effective use to save energy. We hypothesized that home occupants with a high-usability thermostats would be more likely to use them to save energy than people with a basic thermostat. We randomly installed a high-usability thermostat in half the 77 apartments of an affordable housing complex, installing a basic thermostat in the other half. During the heating season, we collected space temperature and furnace on-off data to evaluate occupant interaction with the thermostats, foremost nighttime setbacks. We found that thermostat usability did not influence energy-saving behaviors, finding no significant difference in temperature maintained among apartments with high- and low-usability thermostats.