Metal oxide semiconductor sensors are limited by their low selectivity, high power consumption and temporal drift. This paper proposes a novel discontinuous temperature modulation operation mode characterized by ondemand measurements and periodic warmup cycles.The performance of two sets of FIS SB-500-12 sensors, one group continuously operated and the other group discontinuously operated, was compared in a scenario of carbon monoxide detection at low concentrations for five consecutive days. Results showed that the discontinuous operating mode moderately increased the prediction error and the limit of detection but was advantageous in terms of energy savings (up to 60% with respect to the continuous temperature modulation mode) .