According to ENERGY STAR, setting your thermostat to 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) when you're home is the ideal balance of comfort and energy efficiency.
Experts say that setting your thermostat to 68 degrees Fahrenheit during the day is the best way to save money in the winter. While away from home, it is recommended to turn it down. This has been determined to be the ideal setting for savings in the winter.
How cold is too cold? Below 13° - If your home is this cold, it may increase your blood pressure and risk of cardiovascular disease. 14-15° - If your home is this cold, you may be diminishing your resistance to respiratory diseases. 18° - This is the recommended night time bedroom temperature.
1. Set Your Thermostat to 68°F in Winter (Then Adjust to Your Family's Comfort Level) Start with 68°F while you're awake. This is the recommended home temperature set by the Department of Energy (DOE) to save on utility bills in winter.
14-15° - If your home is this cold, you may be diminishing your resistance to respiratory diseases. 18° is the recommended night time bedroom temperature. 19-21° is the recommended daytime temperature range for occupied rooms.
The ideal healthy home temperature should be no higher than 20 degrees Celsius or 68 degrees Fahrenheit. When you're at home during the day, you'll be quite comfortable at this temperature.
The most comfortable room temperature will vary based on your personal preferences, the season, and which areas of the home you are living in. Most people can agree that a healthy range will go from 20 – 24 degrees Celsius (68 – 76 degrees Fahrenheit).
What do the independent experts say? The Energy Saving Trust recommends heating your home to between 18 to 21 degrees celsius during winter. And The World Health Organisation (WHO) suggests 18 degrees is the ideal temperature for healthy and well-dressed people.
The average room temperature is typically around 20°C, or 68 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a good ambient temperature to aim for, but it is important to bear in mind that different rooms will need to be heated to specific temperatures.
Keeping your home at a constant temperature generally means that your HVAC system will run constantly to meet it. This means that your furnace or air conditioner may run when you're asleep, at work, or out of the house. This wastes more energy than the minimal amount that you might save by having it constantly run.
This may vary by a few degrees from person to person, but most doctors recommend keeping the thermostat set between 60 to 67 degrees Fahrenheit (15.6 to 19.4 degrees Celsius) for the most comfortable sleep.
The Department of Energy estimates savings of about 1 percent for each degree of thermostat adjustment per 8 hours, and recommends turning thermostats back 7 to 10 degrees from their normal settings for 8 hours per day to achieve annual savings of up to 10%.
For example, the ideal temperature of a living room should be around 20 to 22 degrees. This is a room for relaxing in, and where you sit for long periods of time, meaning it should be on the warmer side. Meanwhile, the best temperature for a bathroom or child's bedroom should be warmer too at 22 to 24 degrees.
Setting the thermostat back from 21° C to 16° C at night can result in energy savings of up to ten per cent.
The Ideal Settings
21° C is advisable for basic lounging. 20° C is comfortable for household chores. 16° C is recommended for sleeping or for when no one is home.
The ideal indoor temperature ranges between 20 to 21 degrees Celsius, in the nursery and bathroom you should keep the maximum heat at 23 degrees. Try not to increase the temperatures above this level, particularly in the bedroom warmth impedes the sleep cycle.
Let's bust a myth; according to the Energy Saving Trust, it's not cheaper to leave your heating on low all day. In fact, turning on your heating only when you need it on actually saves energy, and therefore saves money, too.
A viewer asked us to verify whether turning your heat on and off is more cost effective than leaving it running steady. Our researchers asked AC and Heating experts. They agree you should not turn your system off completely—then it'll have to work extra hard to reheat the house and it'll end up costing you.
What is the Most Energy Efficient Temperature for Air Conditioning? As we've mentioned, 22 degrees in Winter and 24 degrees in Summer will ensure maximum energy efficiency from your unit. However, you should think about purchasing an energy efficient air conditioning unit in the first place!
One explanation may be convection currents, or the lack of them. The room's thermostat is likely to be positioned roughly midway between floor and ceiling. On a 20°C day in the summer, the temperature in the room will be within a few degrees of the temperature outside, so you will feel comfortable.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends indoor temperatures of at least 64°F (you can drop that down to 62°F at night if you're really looking to save on your heating bill). But if you have infants, sick or elderly people in your household, then it's recommended that you keep the thermostat set at 70°F.
What Is An Unhealthy Room Temperature? For babies, pets, and the elderly, or for those who suffer from respiratory, lung, or heart disease, anything below 68 degrees and anything above 74 degrees for a prolonged period of time can cause serious health concerns.
This is an actual thing and one reason is the temperature of the surfaces. Our skin is sensitive to radiant heat, and can tell the difference 'at a distance' between a surface at 19 degrees (comfortable) and a cold surface like a window at, say, 12 degrees.