Is this the year you’re intent on cutting back on energy use throughout your home and locking in optimal winter energy savings? Programmable thermostats are a great way to ensure comfort while maximizing savings, but you need to know how to use them.Time matters The length of time that you set the home’s temperature back will basically predict how much energy you save. Ideally, you should try to schedule two setbacks each day for the majority of the week. Most homeowners program the first setback during the day, when the home is unoccupied while family members are either working or at school. The second setback program is scheduled for sleeping hours, when you’re typically snuggled under warm covers and a cooler home won’t inconvenience you or your family.Keep degrees in mindWhat's the general rule of thumb to follow for how much to set back your thermostat’s temperature? Energy Savers estimates that homeowners can save up to one percent on their energy bills if they decrease the home’s temperature by one degree. The idea here, though, is to program a setback for several degrees. If your home’s average temperature is 70 degrees, try setting it back by eight degrees, and keep going until you find a temperature, particularly for the nighttime setback, that you can live with.Avoid getting trigger happyThere will be a few other buttons on your programmable thermostat that you might be tempted to use. However, you should use the “override” and “vacation” setting sparingly. For instance, if you step out of the house for an hour to do some shopping, don’t override the system’s current program to turn the furnace off. This action will actually cause the furnace to consume more energy to overcome the shorter setback than it would if you left it running.To ensure comfort while maximizing energy savings with programmable thermostats, follow these general principles. For help with your thermostat, or to ask our experts a question, contact Air Assurance Heating, Cooling & Air Quality -- serving homeowners in the Greater Broken Arrow area for more than 30 years.Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Air Assurance services Tulsa, Broken Arrow and the surrounding areas. Visit our website to see our current promotions and get started today!