When we think of lowering energy costs, AC comes to mind pretty fast. This is because we realize that it can put a dent in your wallet in no time.
In fact, you'll find that just understanding a few of these tips I'm going to share with you will yield huge cost savings for you.
- Curtains
Keeping your curtains partially or fully closed will help prevent the suns heat from coming into your home. This will keep your AC from having to run too hard.
You'll find this to be especially important for your East and West facing windows which can really heat up your home fast when the curtains aren't drawn.
- Awnings
Installing
awnings
over your windows is another great way to prevent more direct sunlight from heating up your home.
- Thermostat
You'll find a thermostat to be key to having the most energy efficient air conditioner. I'll tell you, I love our
programmable thermostat.
It's truly a wonderful invention.
When it's really hot out, we don't have our AC set below 79 degrees. On other warm days where it's not blistering hot, and at night, we'll have the thermostat for the AC set at 82 degrees.
You see, your AC will still cool at the same rate no matter what you have it set at. So, adjusting your thermostat to 72 degrees won't help your house get to 79 degrees any faster than if it were left at 79.
And yes, your home will still be much cooler than it is outside when running your AC at a higher setting. This is especially true when you use ceiling fans.
- Ceiling Fans
These are another wonderful invention. You can run your ceiling fans for pennies a day instead of dollars a day that it costs to run your AC.
As a matter of fact, you'll find fans to be a perfect partner with your AC. What we do is keep our AC set high and keep our ceiling fans running at the same time.
By doing this, the fans help circulate the cooler air around the house. This "eases" the work load on your AC unit saving you "big bucks" in electricity costs.
Especially because ceiling fans use so very little energy, we have them installed in just about every room of our house.
- Dehumidifier
When it gets hot out, your house becomes more humid. This is especially true where I live in the Midwest U.S. So, you'll need help to reduce that humidity; otherwise, your AC will have to work harder.
Many people use a dehumidifier to battle humidity. I'll tell you what we use.
It's extremely effective and very cheap. Go buy a few bags of calcium chloride pellets. Yes, it’s the stuff you can throw on your driveway to eat through snow and ice.
Pour a couple cups into a plastic bowl and place the bowl up high, especially out of reach of children.
Calcium chloride naturally absorbs excess moisture (humidity) in the air. By the way, you don't have to place a bowl in each room of your house.
Calcium chloride works just like a dehumidifier but at much less the cost. We place 2 bowls upstairs (great room and kitchen) and two bowls in the basement.
Every 2 to 3 weeks, you can dump the water absorbed from the air out of the bowls and replace them with fresh calcium chloride.
- Chores
Any heat generated inside your house has to be removed by your AC unit. So, you'll find you'll save even more money in energy costs by making a few adjustments.
First, you can use your outdoor grill more frequently than your oven. Also, you can use your
crockpot
and microwave more often.
You'll also use less heat in your home by not running the
heat dry
function on your dishwasher.
We also run our clothes dryer in the evening; when its cooler.
Whether you use a cost effective cheap window air conditioner or central air, you'll find putting these strategies to use will save cash in home energy savings.
You'll enjoy a unit that lasts longer and keeps your house cool at minimal cost.
