Blair's adventures in energy efficiency contine. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

So now I really started to get online and read. I knew there had to be more I could do and I started at AltE because I knew their University section would be jam packed with ideas on things I could do to make my home more efficient. AltE sells alternative energy products but they don’t want to sell you a solar power system or wind power system until your home has hit optimal energy efficiency. Makes perfect sense to me since you can’t size a system until you really understand your power needs! (Full disclosure, I am their new Marketing Manager!)

Anyway, among their list of big home efficiency improvements are, of course, to replace windows and improve insulation but the other great tip I picked up was to install a programmable thermostat! Now, I’m quite sure the thermostat had not been touched since the house was built and I know that several times last winter I had to haul my tired self out of bed to turn the thermostat down when I realized the heat was still pumping at 10PM.

The programmable thermostat is pretty simple to install and very inexpensive for the benefits. According to our programmable thermostat you can save $100 in your first year by using this type of system properly which means it will pay for itself almost immediately.

These are also very easy to install if you have a handy human in your home. It can not only make sure you know exactly what your interior temperature is at any time, but you can schedule what it should be throughout the day. The one we chose even allows us to program temperature fluctuations for all seven days of the week!

	This was my fabulous thermostat control - circa 1964 most likely. Sure, it worked fine, but I admit I never knew exactly what my interior temperature was, and we would shift it at will and many times we’d forget to turn it down before sleeping! Note: This thermostat also uses mercury - so if you have one like this that you are replacing then make sure you dispose of it properly - which means do NOT throw it away in the trash!
	After we pulled the thermostat off, we discovered we had only a two wire configuration. Good news for us because it made for a simple installation. The manufacturer did a great job with the installation guide showing multiple wire configurations. You may have anything from a two wire configuration up through 6 wires. Once you identify how many wires you have, you go to the next step.
	Here are all the tools we used to complete the installation. Basic power drill Quarter inch drill bit (for the screw anchors) Screwdriver Hemostat or hemostatic clamps Needle nose pliers
	Here you see the hemostats holding the two wires. One Red and one White.   Basically, we pulled the wires further out of the wall and unscrewed them from their connection on the old thermostat.
	Here is an image of the installation instruction book for the two wire configuration.
	Here you see the wires connected to the proper place in the programmable thermostat.   We simply needed to connect the Red wire to the RH connection and the White wire to the W connection.
	Connected and calibrating - I assure you our house is never 79.5 degrees in the fall, winter or spring!
	Complete installation - ready for programming which was super easy and took me about ten minutes. Of course, I recommend you keep the English instructions in a safe place as ours were misplaced by a wily four year old.   Nevertheless, with Spanish instructions on hand, I was able to set the temperature I wanted for 6AM, 8AM, 6PM and 10PM for all seven days of the week.

To put all of this into perspective, the installation of this programmable thermostat took about 20 minutes. I always worry when I see wiring involved, but in this case, the installation was simple and clean and we’ve been using the programmable thermostat for several days with fantastic results.

If you’re looking for a quick and easy home upgrade that will pay for itself in fuel costs in short order – the programmable thermostat is the choice for you!