New design standards for smart thermostats, or programmable communicating thermostats (PCTs), could help California address its complex energy problems that cost consumers billions of dollars.  David Auslander, an engineering professor at the University of California, created the design rules in collaboration with other engineers, utility companies, and public officials.Industry experts have looked to programmable thermostats for decades for the potential to conserve energy and save money.  Energy conservation on a large scale would reduce the need for new power plants and reduce the amount of carbon emissions released into the atmosphere.  Programmable thermostats first appeared in the 1970s during the oil crisis, followed by newer devices that allowed homeowners to make adjustments during the day, when no one is home, that saved power.“We expected those early thermostats to save a lot of money and energy,” said Ronald Hofmann, an advisor to the California Energy Commission (CEC) – the group that funded Auslander’s research.  “But only if people used them and, unfortunately, fewer than 20 percent of Californians took, or take, the time to program their thermostats” Hofmann continued.The government’s Energy Star program, which gives efficiency ratings to appliances, withdrew its “high” rating from programmable thermostats last year because owners tend to find them consuming and don’t use them, according to William Burke, a graduate student on Auslander’s team.  As a result, billions of dollars is wasted as a result of consumers’ hesitance and confusion.Next generation PCTs, with integrated communications technology, are much more user-friendly devices.  PCTs can automatically respond to energy pricing signals without a proprietary communications infrastructure.  Auslander and his team worked closely with industry members, policy makers, and state regulators to come up with the new design.Over the next five year period, the major California utilities will install smart meters in homes that allow for hourly monitoring of energy usage.  PCTs could receive hourly updates from the smart meters, including pricing signals, through a built-in module, said Hofmann.  Consumers will be able to program PCTs to respond to signals from the smart meters in ways that save money without sacrificing comfort.  The PCT could communicate directly with the smart meter or could get its information over the Internet.