Cool Your Home for Less

The hot weather is back and it's time to crank up your air conditioner again. Other than using the "energy save" setting, what else can you do to bring your cooling costs down? Here are 10 ways, from the cheapest and easiest to the more expensive.

1. Close the window blinds on the sun-ward side of your home. There's nothing like a pool of scorching sunlight on your floor to heat things up and tax your air conditioner. I close the blinds on the eastern side of my home in the morning, and on the western side in the afternoon.

2. Clean your AC air filter. Your air conditioner has to work harder when the air filter is clogged. I clean my window units' air filters regularly.

3. When you turn on your AC, put the power setting on high. Air conditioners work best when they recirculate air in a room (so if yours has a vent, make sure it's shut). The quicker that air is cooled, the quicker your AC's power consumption will fall. Once the room temperature has reached your desired level, set the air conditioner to low.

4. Keep your AC temperature setting as high as possible. Air conditioners dry the air as they cool it, and because high humidity causes more discomfort than high temperature, your home doesn't need to be shopping-mall cold to be comfortable. Experiment with higher temperature settings, beginning with five degrees or so below the outside temperature, and work your way down. You'd be surprised at what level you can live with. (My wife and I find 78º F or 25.5º C to be comfortable.)

5. Use ceiling fans as much as possible. Don't turn them off once you've switched on the AC. Ceiling fans help distribute cool air more evenly throughout the home, which effectively boosts the power of your air conditioner. If your ceiling fan has a reverse setting, this can be used in winter to do the same with warm air.

6. Only cool the room(s) you use. If you have central AC, shut the vents in the unused parts of your home. If you have a window air conditioner, try and stay in that room only, and close the door(s). If the AC is in a more spacious part of the home--say, in an open living room/dining room/kitchen area--make sure doors to the rest of the home are shut.

7. Buy a new air conditioner. You may love your trusty 10-year-old AC and think it's a waste of money to buy a new one, but it's probably not. Your air conditioner is most likely an energy hog compared to today's more efficient units, and the money you save in electricity bills will more than make up for the upfront cost of a new AC.

8. Install a ceiling fan in rooms that don't have them. I've already explained why ceiling fans are useful. Another benefit is that you may be able to get by without using an air conditioner at all if you have ceiling fans in the rooms you use most. It's obvious you need a ceiling fan in the living room, kitchen and dining room, but don't forget your bedroom. Before our bedroom ceiling fan was installed, I needed to run the AC at night in order to sleep comfortably in the summer. (Our stand-up fans simply didn't cut it.) After we installed a ceiling fan, however, I rarely run the air conditioner at all at night (unless it's extremely humid).

9. Insulate your home. You've heard how this lowers heating costs, but it reduces cooling costs as well. After we blew specially treated cellulose into the walls of our 70-year-old home, we experienced a sharp reduction in our AC-related electricity bills.

10. Replace your windows. If the windows in your home are old, chances are there are gaps where air is getting through. Buying new, tightly fitting, double-paned windows will make your home much more energy efficient. An added bonus: it'll be quieter too.