Check Out How You Can Connect Your Home

How long has the same old thermostat been hanging on your wall? Odds are, it’s time for an upgrade. Older systems—especially the ones that aren’t programmable—are most likely costing you extra money and doing a poor job of maintaining comfortable temperatures to boot. When you upgrade to modern equipment, you have the potential to save money on your power bill and even access the system from afar, turning the air down or the heat up via smartphone app.

The history of HVAC systems is a surprisingly long one. About a thousand years before inventors began tinkering with indoor thermostats, the ancient Greeks and Egyptians were coming up with innovative ways to heat and cool indoor areas. It wasn’t until 1620, however, that the first thermostat—a mercury-based invention—came into being. More than 200 years later, in 1883, the electric thermostat arrived on the scene. Honeywell’s iconic round thermostat was invented in 1953, in an era when people were investing more and more in modern household convenience items. It wasn’t until the 1980s that programmable thermostats came into being.

In 2007, everything changed with the invention of the smart thermostat. Although they’ve been around for more than a decade, you might be surprised to learn that many households have yet to upgrade to these new systems. That means a lot of people are missing out on energy savings and modern accessibility. Users can program smart thermostats from anywhere. Many systems’ intelligent programming can even learn your habits and adjust settings to help you expand your savings.