bingo! You've hit the nail on the head on all fronts. But light blubs and the act of turning on and off lights are very tangible to the average person, compare

bingo! You've hit the nail on the head on all fronts. But light blubs and the act of turning on and off lights are very tangible to the average person, compared to thermostat programming. Awareness itself is a big step, sadly. Disclosure: I work for an energy efficiency company and basically telling people to do turn off / lower the settings is our business: opower.com.