From: Rick Charnes 
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Does turning down the heat save money?
Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 16:18:07 -0500

Interesting debate I seem to have started.  Out of curiosity, I sent the 
question in an email to KeySpan Energy, my local heating gas supplier 
here in Boston.  They're hardly a neutral observer, but I wanted to see 
what they would say.  I noticed that they have an online document "20 
Ways to Use Energy Smarter" in which one of the items says:

17. Install a clock thermostat, and set it to automatically drop to a 
lower temperature at night.

So to confirm, I wrote:

"I use gas-powered forced hot water heating in my house.  We turn the 
heat down to about 60 at night, up to 68 in the morning, back to 60 when 
we leave the house for work, then back to 68 for the evening.  Some 
friends have suggested, though, that doing this doesn't really save 
money, because the extra energy involved in the furnace turning itself 
up and down a couple of times a day balances out the actual savings on 
gas.  Can KeySpan help clarify?"

Their reply:
"We recommend leaving the thermostat at one setting at all times.
It's more efficient that way rather than turning the thermostat
down to 60' and the back up to 68'.  Thermostat settings should
not vary more than 3'."

Hmmmmmmmm....