In celebration of Earth Day 2009, Service Experts, the HVAC installation and repair guys, are giving away 10,000 programmable thermostats.  This is actually a pretty cool thing that they’re doing: the Service Experts’ Earth Day promotion will create the same environmental effect as planting 14 trees for everyone who gets one of their free programmable Earth Day 2009 thermostats installed in their house.

The programmable thermostat is free, and the only real requirement is that you get one of their HVAC tune-ups performed (which will cost you about $79 to $149).

Thermostat manufacturers like Lennox, who are providing thermostats for this Earth Day 2009 promotion through Service Experts, estimate that about 75 percent of homes in North America do not have programmable thermostats. Most houses between 15 and 25 years old still actually use thermostats that contain mercury. If you did not know, the mercury in that old thermostat of yours is very toxic to the environment if you don’t dispose of it properly.

When you get your new programmable thermostat installed, Service Experts will actually remove your old thermostat, and properly dispose and recycle it for you so you don’t have to worry about its effect on the environment.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) say that the proper use of a programmable thermostat can save you about $150 each year in energy costs. Add improved efficiency from regular heating and cooling HVAC tune-ups to that, and the savings can increase even further.

So, go check and see if you’ve got one of those old thermostats in your house that contains mercury. If you have one, check out the Service Experts 2009 Earth Day promotion and get one of those new programmable free thermostats installed. You’ll save some money on your electric bills and help the environment, too.