Ceiling fans could potentially save you 40 percent on your summer electric bills.
Energy costs are skyrocketing and it looks to be a long time before harnessing wind or sun power to improve residential energy efficiency is going to become a reality. You have to take every possible advantage to cut the costs of central air conditioning and utility bills. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Put up thicker curtains and drapes and keep them closed during the day. Invest in tinted windows or Low-E glass. Plant shade trees or trellises in front of your largest windows. The power of the sun is one of the biggest causes behind high cooling bills, so you should find any possible way to reduce its effects.
2. Increase the efficiency of your central air conditioner and lower your monthly bills. Make sure that you change dirty filters regularly. Go outside and clean the outdoor unit. Pull away vines that are climbing up the outside of the compressor. Take off the panel and clean the condenser coils, fins and fan blades with a scrubbing brush. Prune back any plants that are obstructing air flow.
3. Decrease the humidity in the house and you decrease the effects of the heat index inside the home. Cover your pots on the stove to cut back on the production of steam. Open up a window following a shower to allow steam to escape. Invest in a dehumidifier.
4. Create openings for air flow on opposing sides of the house and utilize the powerful effects of cross ventilation to allow a freer flow of air from one side of the room to the other. The best effects are achieved by opening one double-hung window from the top and the other from the bottom.
5. Use your ceiling fans during the hot months. While ceiling fans may not actually lower the temperature in your particular case, the velocity of moving air can make it feel coolor. Energy-efficient ceiling fans built in the last decade or two can potentially save you up to 40 percent on your cooling bills.
6. Close your closet doors when not in use and close the door to any room you will be spending time in later on. Energy that is wasted can be easily retrieved simply by closing a door. Closing the door to a room you will stay in later in the day decreases its interior temperature and allows you to raise the thermostat, while still enjoying the cool air that has built up over the course of a few hours.
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