It is a cold winter day and the temperature in your home is uncomfortably cool. You check the thermostat and find the set point is 73 degrees. The thermometer shows that the room temperature is 68 degrees. What do you do? 

I'm having trouble figuring out what the best setting is for my thermostat.  How do I set it so that I am comfortable and yet avoid higher energy bills?

Simply put, a "call for heat" or a "call for cooling" means that the temperature in the space has dropped below or risen above the set point on the thermostat so the thermosat is now "calling" for heat or air conditioning to be delivered to the space.

You can easily save energy in the winter by setting the thermostat to 68°F while you're awake and setting it lower while you're asleep or away from home. By turning your thermostat back 10°–15° for 8 hours, you can save as much as10%–15% on ...

You can save up to10% a year on your heating and cooling bills by simply turning your thermostat back for eight hours. You can do this automatically without sacrificing comfort by installing an automatic setback or programmable thermostat.

Using a programmable thermostat, you can adjust the times you turn on the heating or air-conditioning according to a pre-set schedule. As a result, you don't operate the equipment as much when you are asleep or when the house is not occupied.

Stages refer to the different levels of heat or cooling delivered to the space.   Instead of being on full force every time the   ...

"Set back" refers to changing the temperature setting on your thermostat for a period of time when the space will not be occupied or will not require as much heating or cooling.  In the winter ...

Set point is simply the temperature you have "set" your thermostat to maintain.

The most modern heating and cooling systems have more than one stage or heating and cooling.  These are called multi-stage systems.

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