In the typical home, air conditioning uses more electricity than anything else—16% of total electricity used. In warmer regions AC can be 60-70% of your summer electric bill, according to Austin Energy. This is where the savings are folks, not in worrying that you left your cell phone charger plugged in too long.
The easiest way to save is to run the AC less often, and to dial the temperature up a degree or two when you do run it. My tips below show you how to be comfortable at warmer temperatures. I use these tips myself, and as a result I save hundreds of dollars every summer. I could take a trip to Las Vegas every year from what I save by not using AC. Even if you're determined to not use your AC any less, we'll cover ways to keep the heat out of your home, and more efficient air conditioners, which can still save you money.
Central AC is simply an energy hog. A window unit AC uses 500 to 1440 watts, while a 2.5-ton central system uses about 3500 watts. That's a lot of power. A floor fan uses only 100 watts on the highest speed, and ceiling fans use only 15 to 90 watts depending on speed and size.
Making do with less air conditioning
1. Raise the temperature
Is raising the thermostat a degree or two really gonna kill ya? I don't turn on my AC unless it's more than 96 degrees outside, and then only if my computer is running. Each degree below 78°F will increase your energy use by 3-4%. Follow the other ideas in this section, and you'll feel cooler at warmer temperatures. Remember, only losers set their AC below 80.
2. Install ceiling fans if you don't have them.
Fans can make you feel 3 to 8 degrees cooler, allowing you to dial your AC to a higher temperature and still feel just as cool. (NY Times) Put the wind-chill factor to work for you! And ceiling fans are cheaper than you might expect: they start out around $40 at your local home improvement store, and usually cost less than a penny an hour to run. (A typical 36" / 48" / 52" ceiling fan uses about 55 / 75 / 90 watts of electricity respectively at the top speed.) Central AC costs seventy times more to run than a fan.
Most people are even able to install the fans themselves using the instructions provided. Don't underestimate the importance of ceiling fans!
3. Make sure your ceiling fan is spinning the right way.
Make sure your fan is blowing DOWN, to send air past your body, removing the hot air that surrounds your body. If your fan is blowing up, it won't do any good. In fact, it's worse than no fan, because it moves the warm air at the ceiling back down towards the living area.
(It's true that a fan that blows down also pushes the warmer air down from the ceiling into the living area, but it's blowing even warmer air away from your body, so the overall effect is to cool you down.)
Almost all fans have a switch to change the fan direction. It's an up/down or left/right switch on the side of the fan (between the light and the fan blades), and it's usually unlabeled. Make sure the fan is off (not spinning) before you flip the switch or you can damage the motor. Once you've turned the fan off, it's fine to physically stop the blades with your hand, just be gentle so you don't bend the blades, otherwise the fan will wobble when you turn it back on. With the blades stopped, flip the direction (summer/winter) switch, then turn the fan back on.
So how do you know which direction is up and which is down? For most fans, when you're standing under the fan looking up, counter-clockwise blows down and clockwise blows up. Check by standing under the fan when it's on full-speed. If you can feel the wind hitting you hard, then it's blowing down. To verify, stop the fan, change the direction switch, then turn the fan on full-blast again and compare the difference.
4. Use a Bed Fan
Why pay to cool the whole house while you're sleeping when you really need to cool only yourself? The Bed Fan solves that problem, running a gentle breeze under the sheets to keep you cool, so you don't have to run expensive AC (or so you can dial up the temperature, which still saves money). Why didn't someone think of this before? This could be also great for people who experience night sweats or hot flashes. And you won't have to run an expensive AC all night long.
5. Use a "Chillow" pillow
The Chillow is a water-filled pillow that keeps your head cool while you sleep. You can either sleep directly on it or put it inside a pillow case. I bought one as soon as it came out and it really works.
6. Use cold packs
Put these pads in the fridge or freezer, and then wear them or sit on them (or use as pillows when you're sleeping). The cost to chill them in the fridge is a fraction of what you'll save by being able to dial your thermostat up a degree or two. Remember, it's cheaper to cool yourself than the whole house.
7. Wear a wrung-out shirt
You'll probably be surprised at how well this works. Afterwards you might wonder why you didn't try it sooner. It works even better if you combine it with a fan.
8. Run around naked
Okay, you probably don't want to run around naked, but wearing lighter clothes will make you cooler. Why wear long sleeves and long pants inside the house? Wear a t-shirt and shorts and then you can dial up the thermostat a degree or two. But if you do go naked then you'll also save money on laundry.
9. Rinse off in the shower
A quick, cool shower can keep you cool for quite a while afterward. And the water cost is trivial compared to the electric cost.
10. Use an AC timer or smart thermostat.
For central AC, your thermostat might already have a timer built-in. If not, you can replace your thermostat with a programmable one.
For window unit AC's, many modern units have a timer built in. If not, you can use a simple plug-in timer if your AC has a mechanical On/Off switch (i.e., you physically move it into a different position when you turn the AC on). But plug-in timers usually don't work if the On/Off switch is electronic (i.e., you push a soft button on a panel to turn the AC on or off).
Set your timer or thermostat to turn off about the time you leave for the day, and to turn back on a half hour before you get home. Contrary to popular belief, this does NOT use more electricity than having the AC constantly maintain a cool temperature; it uses less.
You can get programmable thermostats and plug-in timers from your local home improvement store. Programmable thermostats come with instructions, but it's a quick job for an electrician if you're not comfortable doing the installation yourself. Plug-in timers for window units start out at $5, and there are more expensive models with more features.
It's a myth that it takes less energy to run the AC all day, rather than leaving it off and turning it on when you get home. Running the AC all day when you're away definitely uses more energy, no question.
The reason is that with the AC constantly running, it's constantly cooling your home, making it a heat magnet. Heat goes to where it's not, so when your house is cooler, more heat will try to enter. So more heat gets into your house, and the AC has to remove that heat, over and over again.
But if you leave the AC off, then the house will heat up during the day and then stop heating up. It's already hot so it's no longer a heat magnet. When you get home and turn on the AC, the AC has less total heat to remove than if it had been running all day.
Yes, I've tested this, of course. In my test, running the AC all day used 317% as much electricity as waiting until after work to turn it on. It was a pretty crude test and I won't be surprised if the typical penalty is actually much lower, but the point is, there's definitely a penalty by running the AC all day. I hope readers will run their own tests and let me know the results.
Text Refereed From michaelbluejay.com
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