Lowering your air conditioning costs

Here in North Carolina, as with most of our country, we are having a heat wave.

The only way to keep cool is to run the air conditioner. Though we are cooler at the moment, we will surely boil when we get the power bill. The average central air unit uses about 3500 kilowatt. Your home computer uses from 150-350, depending on the type. You pay around 15 cents per kilowatt of power used, I’m going to stop calculating the cost because I am going to have a panic attack. Instead lets talk about ways to cut that cost.\

1) Lower the thermostat. Each degree below 78 degrees will increase your energy use by 3-4%

2) Fans can make you feel 3-8 degrees cooler allowing you to turn your AC up higher.

Central AC costs seventy times more to run than a fan. You need to make sure your ceiling fan is blowing DOWN.

3) Turn your AC off while at work. It’s a myth that leaving the AC on while you’re away at work uses less energy than turning it on when you get home.

Here's why:

Heat goes to where it's not. That's why heat from outside goes into your cooler home. With the AC off, at some point your house will be so hot it can't absorb any more heat. When you come home and turn the AC on, the AC removes all that heat.

But if the AC is on when you're gone, then you've turned your house into a heat magnet. But keeping it artificially cool, there's no limit to the amount of heat it can absorb. It can always absorb more heat. And your AC has to remove that heat constantly. Your AC kicks in and removes some of that heat, then the house is cooler so it sucks in more heat from outside, so your AC kicks in again and removes that heat, and so on.

This means that throughout the day, your house has absorbed way more than one houseful of heat. And your AC had to remove it all. By contrast, with the AC off all day, then it has to remove just one houseful of heat when you come home and turn it on.

4) Clean or replace your AC filter every month. A dirty filter makes your AC work harder, which uses more electricity.

5) Cut the grass from around the unit. Tall grass can restrict air flow and use more electricity.

6) Plant shade trees around your house.

7) Keep direct sunlight out. Direct sunlight can raise the temp of a room 10-20 degrees.

8) Create less heat inside your home. Use your crock pot to cook, or grill outside. Replace your lights with compact fluorescent lights. They use less energy and produce less heat.

I’m going to try all these things except planting the shade tree. I don’t really think that tiny baby tree from the garden shop is going to cool my house. There is no way to calculate the savings today but I will let you know when the next bill comes in. Stay cool, everyone. See you next time.