1973: Arab Oil Embargo Popularizes Programmable Thermostats

This is a look back at how the programmable thermostat came to be. Before 1973, energy was cheap and many homes, especially in the Northeast, ran on heating oil delivered by truck. When the Arab Oil Embargo hit that year, oil prices quadrupled and utility bills jumped fast.

President Nixon responded by asking Americans to turn thermostats down at least 6 degrees, aiming for an average daytime indoor temperature of 68°F, and asked workplaces to cut back 10 degrees. A few years later, President Carter pushed the recommended winter setting down further, to 65°F.

The catch was that thermostats back then had to be adjusted by hand. Getting people to remember to turn the dial down every night or before leaving for work didn't work well in practice. That gap led manufacturers to build thermostats with mechanical clocks inside, so a household could schedule a temperature drop overnight or during the day automatically. That shift turned the thermostat from a simple dial into an energy-saving tool, and set the stage for the programmable and smart thermostats sold today.

For anyone with an older, manual thermostat still on the wall, this bit of history is a reminder of why programmable and smart models exist in the first place: they took the guesswork and forgetfulness out of turning the heat down, a problem homeowners have been dealing with since the 1970s energy crisis.