Air Conditioner Articles: Keeping Your Energy Bills Low

Keeping Your Energy Bills as Low as Possible

It's hard to ignore the huge increases we all often see on our summer cooling energy bills. The increase in temperature often closely corresponds to a major increase in our electric bills. While some extra expense is to be expected, there are many easy things you can do to help to ensure that your bills are as low as possible.

• If at all possible, locate your air conditioning units on the North sides of your home or apartment. This will ensure that the air conditioner is in an area where direct sunlight is most limited. If that is impossible, choose a spot where shade is more plentiful.
• Make sure all window units are well sealed into their windows. Oftentimes, people inadvertently leave gaps around their AC units, which only serves to let in extra heat an humidity. This will, ultimately, interfere with the proper cooling functions of the air conditioner. If you have any gaps in your window, these can be easily filled with "rope caulk." The caulk comes in rolls and is similar in consistency to play doh.
• Don't run other major appliances such as dishwashers, ovens, washers or dryers during the hottest hours of the day. This will cause your air conditioning units to kick into overdrive. They will need to work twice as hard to keep your space cool and this will be reflected on your energy bills.
• Make sure you are using an air conditioning unit with a high EER (energy efficiency rating). The higher the EER number, the more efficiently your unit will cool your house.
• Replace incandescent light bulbs in your home with compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs). This one simple step is important for our environment as well as our wallets. CFL's last 10,000 hours or more and produce, at 25 watts, the same amount of light as an incandescent bulb does at 100 watts. They produce only a fourth of the heat and consume only a fourth of the power. It is estimated that if every American simply replaced one of their incandescent bulbs with a CFL, the country's overall electricity demand would drop by 11,250 megawatts—the equivalent of the power produced by more than five large power plants.

Following some of these easy suggestions will get you well on your way to some significant energy savings!