Thermostat device with improved energy optimization

A device for controlling at least one of a heating system and a cooling system within a premise, the device comprising:

• a housing;
• at least one relay within the housing, the at least one relay connected to the at least one of a heating system and a cooling system;
• at least one environmental sensor within the housing, operable to measure the temperature and humidity within the premise;
• memory, operable to store a programming schedule having at least one temperature setpoint and further operable to store current and historical temperature and humidity values provided by the at least one environmental sensor;
• and
• a processor, connected to the at least one relay, the at least one environmental sensor and the memory, the processor being operable to execute an energy control program;
• wherein the energy control program is operable to control the at least one of a heating system and a cooling system based upon one of the following control strategies:
• a first control strategy that compares the at least one temperature setpoint in the programming schedule to the current measured dry bulb temperature to determine whether to engage or disengage the at least one of a heating system and a cooling system, and a second control strategy that compares the at least one temperature setpoint in the programming schedule to a normalized humidex temperature to determine whether to engage or disengage the at least one of a heating sy stem and a cooling system, the normalized humidex temperature being the current measured dry bulb temperature modified by historical humidity values to provide an indicator of thermal comfort within the premise;
• and
• the energy control program is operable to automatically select the first control strategy when the current measured humidity is higher than a threshold and the second control strategy when the current measured humidity is lower than the threshold.