17 Ways to Decrease Your Air Conditioning Costs Through the Summer Months.
Summer is perhaps the most beautiful season of the year. The plants are out in full force, growing as hard as they can. It’s also at this time that people get to enjoy activities without having to wonder whether they’ve won enough clothing. Best of all, the pleasant weather is just what the doctor ordered.
Summer may be beautiful, but it also means you have some significant bills to deal with when it comes to keeping cool inside your home. There are some things you can do to decrease your air conditioning costs. Here are 17 of the best.
Close your blinds or curtains.
If you live in a house where the sun shines directly into your home, then this is for you. Allowing the sun to shine right into your home will increase the amount of heat inside your house. Before leaving your house, go round checking if there are any blinds or curtains that are open.
- Get yourself storm windows.
You may know of the types of windows that are designed to reduce heating costs. The cost of replacing your windows is what’s a bit of an issue at the moment. It doesn’t mean you are out of options; it just means you need to look at storm windows.
These are known to reduce heating costs anywhere from 12 percent to 33 percent. They are also cheaper to install.
- Get a programmable thermostat.
The nerve center of your HVAC system is the thermostat. The traditional ones are not known for adjusting themselves to accommodate your needs. Luckily, there are a line of programmable thermostats that can auto-adjust temperature to enable you better plan your heating and cooling cycles.
- Fix leaks.
When a water hose has leaks, the loss of water around the hose are not only irritating, but costly. Similarly, if your heating and cooling ducts have leaks, this could mean that you are losing energy. Fixing these leaks could mean you make savings of up to 30 percent.
- Service your AC.
All mechanical machines undergo a process known as wear and tear. As this condition progresses, the effectiveness of your AC will reduce, which can result in cost increases. Servicing it and repairing it will bring down your costs significantly.
- Insulate the attic.
The attic is very important for any household. Apart from being a place to store stuff, it will single handedly determine how much you will be paying in energy bills.
In the winter, the attic is responsible for trapping heat from escaping into the atmosphere. In summer, cooler air, which is heavier than hot air, will descend from the attic.
- Repaint your home.
This is something either taught in school, or you’ve experienced it yourself. Darker colors tend to absorb and trap heat in comparison to lighter colors. If your home is a dark color, it will absorb and trap heat from the sun inside your home. A lighter color will reflect heat away.
- Planting trees in your yard.
Trees have been the quintessential shade from heat ever since humans discovered what shade can do. Similarly, the landscaping around your home will help reduce your energy bills. Trees will not only provide shade for your home, but air tends to be cooler around trees.
- Install a cool roof.
This is something to look at if you are due for a refit, or if you are looking to upgrade your home. Replacing the roof is quite expensive, but the benefits of a cool roof cannot be understated.
- A radiant barrier.
The attic offers a great way to style your home and reduce energy costs. Apart from insulating your attic to slow down the rate of heat dissipation, a radiant barrier will help reflect heat away from the attic.
- Replace AC filters.
This is probably the simplest, and the most cost-effective way of reducing costs. The new AC filters mean that your HVAC will have to use less energy to draw in air. Depending on how much you service the filters, the savings could amount up to 15 percent.
- Change your light bulbs.
Light bulbs are a well-known source of heat. This is because the electric energy being turned into heat light will also be lost as heat. Getting yourself energy-efficient light bulbs to use around the home reduces the amount of heat generated, which means less cooling.
- Seal cracks.
Well, the attic isn’t the only one responsible for how much you save in terms of heating and cooling. Cracks or spaces around your doors and windows also allow the cool air out. Solving this is quite cheap. All you need is weather stripping and caulk.
14.Use the microwave.
It’s a well-known fact that the oven and the stove are great cooking, as well as heating sources during the winter months. In summer, they work against you. If you can avoid using the two, you are well towards your way to keep costs down.
- Utilize ceiling fans.
Ceiling fans are great for inducing a well-known physical effect; wind chill. As air is moving, it helps to transfer heat from a place of high concentration and dissipate it. Wind that is cooler than the ambient temperature feels nice to the skin and takes heat away from the body.
- Lounge in the basement.
The principle here is simple. Hot air rises, while cool air descends. By this logic alone, it explains why the basement is usually cooler than the rest of the house. Spending time in the basement will mean less discomfort from the heat upstairs.
- Turn off the thermostat.
This is something that many people do; leave for work or for errands, and leave the thermostat at the temperature you had set it to. The thermostat will work to keep the temperature inside the house while no one is actually using it.
If you can turn off the thermostat while you are away from the home, then you are on your way to making significant savings on your energy bills.
