Air Conditioning Energy Savings
 |
||
|
|
|
|
||
Courtesy of the Kingston Environmental Advisory Forum (KEAF).
We are all trying to save energy to help the country meet its Kyoto commitments and at the same time trying to save money on our energy bills. For many of us, air conditioning uses a lot of electrical energy in summer. Often, it seems that to save energy we have to start with expensive investments, such as buying more energy efficient appliances. But in the case of air conditioning there are ways to save energy that do not cost money, or very little of it. For example:
- Set the air conditioned temperature to 25 or 26 degrees because for every degree you set it below 25 degrees will increase cooling costs by 3 to 5 percent,
- Close blinds and curtains during the day, especially on sun-facing windows,
- Close doors and windows into air conditioned spaces,
- use heat-producing appliances such as clothes dryers, dish washers, and ovens in the evening or early morning,
- change filters in central systems every three months and clean the filter in room air conditioners every month,
- use fans to reduce the need for air conditioners because fans are very inexpensive to operate compared with air conditioners.
More costly ways of reducing air conditioner energy use include:
- Buy an energy efficient air conditioner. New energy star rated models may be as much as 40% more efficient than models 10 years old or older,
- buy a programmable thermostat for a central air conditioner, or a heavy duty timer for a room air conditioner. Set the thermostat to a higher temperature, or the timer for shut-off, if the rooms are to be vacant for 4 hours or more,
- have the air conditioner serviced by an qualified person every two or three years.
