Cheaper Air Conditioning

Here is a question that is uppermost on many family's minds when it comes to balancing the household budget, "Is cheaper air conditioning possible?"

On the face of it, it would appear that the possibility of getting the same level of cooling during summer for less cost in terms of energy consumption is slim to non-existent. Yet that doesn't mean there is no way to economize and save money on air conditioning costs.

There is.

It may not be what you're thinking, either. So far, there are no highly advanced items of technology that will reduce the electricity consumed by an air conditioner, nor any new, more energy efficient advancement on the air conditioner itself.

How to Save Money on Air Conditioning

The simplest solution is the one that is simplest. That may be a clever play on words, but in essence, it is correct.

To find the solution, you need to be looking not to technology or hopeful new devices, but to common sense and using what you already have available to you.

The general idea is to reduce the load on the AC system itself so that it does not need to work so hard to maintain a comfortable indoor temperature when it gets hot outside.

There are two main ways to reduce that load.

Prevent the building getting too hot.
Reduce the level of cooling by the AC.

Let's take a look at these two points and see where they take us.

A Cooler Building

It's simple logic that if the building isn't so hot, the air inside it will not be so hot and not need to be cooled so much. How do we keep a building cooler when it's very hot outside?

While we can't do a lot about the open air temperature, we can do something to prevent the main source of heat radiating directly on the roof, bricks and mortar. We can shield them from the sun.

We do that by creating shade wherever possible on areas of the building that get direct exposure to the sun's rays. They are the roof and the walls that face the sun during the different parts of the day.

For most buildings in most hot climate areas, that is directly above and walls facing degrees of east, south and west.

The roof is often the toughest area to shade from the sun since it's the highest point of the building. Large trees can help enormously, but they need to be:

Planted a safe enough distance from the building in case they fall in high winds
Planted close enough that they still provide enough shade to cover at least some of the roof area

It is possible to set up temporary roof shading using close-knit netting fixed slightly above the roof with a wire or rigid tubular framework. This can prove useful in extremely hot weather situations where there are no shade trees in the vicinity.

The south-facing wall is often the easiest to protect from the sun's rays with a roof overhang. This is because in summer, the sun is very high in the sky during the hottest hours of the day and the shadow cast be even a relatively short overhand will be enough to shade the south facing wall completely for several hours.

The east and west walls can be shielded from the morning and evening sun using awnings. At a pinch, you can create makeshift shading using a large net-covered framework simply rested against the wall!

The result of simply shading the building as much as possible is a reduction on the heating of the walls and roof, which is transferred inside in lower air temperature.

Not Working the Air Conditioning as Hard

The other way of reducing the energy consumption of the air conditioning system inside the building is ingenious in its simplicity, yet so often overlooked by many families.

Set the thermostat higher!

Often, there seems to be a mentality that says the house must feel like the Arctic inside when the weather is hot outside. People set the thermostat way too low, causing the Air Conditioning system to work much harder to reduce the temperature far below what would normally be considered "comfortable" and sensible.

A good rule of thumb, if you're unsure what temperature to set the thermostat at is to think about what you'd set it in winter to stay warm when it's cold outside.

For most people, that would tend to be somewhere around 72-75° which is a very comfortable temperature to experience indoors, no matter what the temperature might be outside.

Here is a handy, short video on air conditioning economy that highlights this idea very concisely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8CH0kQ2hxk

What Else Can Be Done?

Plenty!

Other places to target are window and door frames and any other access points to the outside from the inside (such as cooling vents, kitchen extractor fan vents etc). You need to make sure there are no permanent openings in these areas, such as large open cracks or holes in worn or rotten wood.

By plugging these gaps, you effectively cut out any unwanted heat exchange with the outside from inside. This stops hot air from outside getting in during hot weather and likewise, keeps the indoor heat from escaping to the outside during winter.

By reducing or eliminating this kind of heat exchange, the air conditioner won't need to use additional energy to compensate for the losses (or gains) in coolness from inside. In winter the tables are turned and the heating system will be saved some energy wastage trying to compensate for heat loss.

Insulation is another avenue for reducing the ingress of heat from outdoors, especially in the attic space. Insulation is a whole other topic in itself, so I won't go into details here.

Suffice it to say it can be an effective area for reducing energy usage and saving money on energy bills.