“As we can see by the rise in ownership of smart home products, homeowners are increasingly looking for convenient ways to automate their lives and expand control over their home environments to save on energy costs,” Lisa Plaggemier, executive director of the National Cybersecurity Alliance, said in a Copeland press release. “But what’s most concerning is that more than half of homeowners don’t understand how data from their smart thermostat is collected and used — particularly as AI (artificial intelligence) becomes nearly ubiquitous. This should be a resounding call for transparency among smart tech manufacturers.”

While the study shows that homeowners with smart home devices are more concerned than ever about the security of their data (27% in 2024 versus 23% in 2022), their understanding of and attitudes toward smart tech and data privacy show a critical gap. According to the survey:

• More than half of homeowners (52%) don’t have any idea of how data is collected from smart thermostats.

• Homeowners who don’t own a smart thermostat are less likely to be confident that manufacturers use their customers’ data responsibly, compared to those who own a smart thermostat (58% versus 73%). That could be evidence of a barrier to purchase, the press release said.

• Only 14% of homeowners who owned smart thermostats said they researched a manufacturer’s data privacy policy before purchasing a smart thermostat.

• And yet, seven out of 10 homeowners are willing to replace their thermostat with one that provides more privacy, with millennials more willing (80%) than other groups.

As the company behind the Sensi thermostat platform, Copeland was one of the first manufacturers to create a formal privacy pledge in 2022 and has since been a leader in protecting its users’ personal data, never using smart thermostat activity for targeting or advertising purposes, the press release said. The company has also never sold a user’s personal data to anyone and does not make changes to thermostat settings based on usage assumptions.

“There’s always a role for data, particularly as it relates to a homeowner’s ability to optimize their home comfort and gain energy savings in the process, but those settings are theirs and theirs alone,” said Brendan O’Toole, vice president, smart home and energy management for Copeland. “As demand for smart home products continues to rise, it’s imperative for manufacturers to adequately disclose their privacy policies and educate consumers about the importance of data security.”