When warmer weather hits, you will want to turn on your air conditioning system and enjoy cooler temperatures inside your home as a way to escape the heat outside. In many places, warm weather starts earlier and lasts longer than it did a decade ago, which means a higher cooling bill and more negative environmental effects.
It’s no secret that our heating and cooling systems are not as efficient as they should be, and many of them are harmful for the environment, especially when used continuously during the summer months. If you want to cut your power bill and do your part to conserve energy, then here are a few tips to help you out. Just making these changes can have a big impact.
Use a Smart Thermostat
The modern thermostat can be an energy saving tool that only cools your home when people are present. If you don’t have a programmable thermostat already, it may be time to upgrade. You can set your thermostat to detect when there is no one home and turn itself off. It can also be programmed to modify the level of humidity in the home.
If your thermostat is doing all of that for you, then you won’t have to constantly adjust it yourself, and you can let it save energy on its own without you having to put much thought into it.
Switch Out Air Filters When Needed
If you want to cut back your energy usage, one of the simplest and most effective ways to do that is to change out air filters when they are dirty. Your HVAC air filter ought to be changed out when it has lots of dust and dirt in it, otherwise your system will have to work much harder to make your home cool. The HVAC system will be struggling to maintain the temperature you set for inside your home if the filter is in need of changing, and that expends a lot of unnecessary energy.
If you haven’t been changing your air filters regularly, then you should start doing that. This is something that is simple enough to do on your own, and air filters make a big difference in air quality and purity as well as how cold the temperature is. Clean air filters cut down on pollution inside your home, making it easier to sleep well and feel well. Dirty air filters produce a lot of dust and allergens that will irritate your sinuses and make you feel like you are suffering from a cold or an allergy attack. Change out those filters for your health and for the environment.
Have Your HVAC System Serviced
A dirty air filter makes your system struggle, and an HVAC system in need of cleaning or servicing is going to struggle as well. You can cut your energy consumption by having the system regularly serviced. When the ducts clog up and the condensers start to leak, you might not notice these things. They happen gradually and cause your system to work harder to produce the same cool temperatures. These problems drain the HVAC system’s energy and cost you a lot of money over time.
When you have your system serviced regularly, you can catch these problems in their early stages and prevent unnecessary energy usage. A clean, well maintained HVAC system will run more efficiently, produce cool air easily and quickly, and preserve the environment just a little bit more.
If you want to change your filters out less often and service your system less frequently, then you should keep a clean home. Hire independent maids to clean your home often so that there is little dirt and debris to go into the filter and clog up the cooling system.
Use Your Cooling System Sparingly
You don’t always have to turn on the air conditioner when your home feels warm. There are other ways to cool the house down without using the higher energy HVAC system. You can simply open up some of the doors and windows. This will let warm air out and allow cooler air in. The air in your home can get stuffy and heat up in the summertime, and just airing the place out every now and then will save you a bundle on your energy bill and still allow you to feel comfortable.
You can also use ceiling fans and box fans to circulate cool air and keep the house from feeling too hot and stuffy. If you don’t have ceiling fans installed in the most used rooms of the house, then you may want to consider doing that. The initial cost can be high, but you will save money with these over a period of time. They do a good job of moderating the temperature for you and saving you from having to use the AC system as often.
Ensure Your Home is Well Insulated
We often think of insulation as something that keeps the house warm in the winter, but it also seals up cracks and prevents air from escaping or entering. If you use your HVAC system to cool the house down, you don’t want to lose all of that cool air as it is produced. A well-insulated house will trap the cool air inside so that you don’t need to continuously run the AC system.
If it has been a while since you checked your insulation or you simply don’t know what the insulation situation is, then have your home insulation inspected. If you are not able to do this yourself, then call for an insulation expert to help. See if your home has enough insulation, if that insulation is in good condition, and if all cracks and holes are sealed properly.
These tips will help you to conserve energy, and most of them are simple changes you can make that don’t cost a lot of money. If you are looking for ways to protect the environment and cut your energy usage without having to make a lot of sacrifices, then try these methods.
Nice article, but mostly useful for home owners.
EXPANDED CURIOUS BENEFITS OF INSULATING ‘OUTSIDE THE HOME’
As a Townhouse renter, gardener & Polyculture Orchard tender, I’ve taken another tact beyond some inside insulation. This 2023 year with help from our Housing Development Grounds Crew of the 33 acre property with 755 apartments & townhouses with 3500 people, I’ve been able to collect & spread 510 garbage bags full of leaves, spread unbagged, as outside insulation to the 3 Basement Cement townhouse 21 foot long walls.
CHIP & LEAF MULCHES: The ~3 foot wide garden pathway around the townhouse has some 15 tonnes of Branch Chips brought in truckloads, by my son an Arborist. With leaves covering the 2 to 4 foot (61 to 122 cm) cement walls (up to the bricks) reaching out 20 feet in 3 directions from the townhouse to a level of 1 to 2 feet (30.5 to 61 cm) compressed & kept constantly wet. Leaves & branch chips are insulating the natural Geothermal ground heat & directing a good part of it into the townhouse in the winter keeping it toasty warm. Some of the heat is the bio-degrading of wet leaves & chips. Just yesterday with freezing conditions outside, I dug into the leaves in a dozen places & measured the temperature to be 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (36.1 C.) throughout with worms & bugs still active below. In summer these same mostly bio-degraded composted leaves have turned to rich productive soil. Over the past 13 years I’ve created about 18 inches of soil, which keeps the basement cool during hot summer days. Sorry I don’t have our video ready on this process yet, but here are 3 short films on our POLYCULTURE ORCHARD which capture some of the components. https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/b-ecological-design/1-how-to-grow-your-own-raw-vegan-food-garden
We use a rodent-proof CEMENT-BOARD-COMPOSTER for kitchen cuttings also insulated on 2 sides by leaves & 2 sides with Styrofoam, which actively decomposes all materials over the whole winter here in Montreal (down to 30 degrees Celsius below freezing). 2 foot wide by 4 feet high Cement-Board Composter times 4 sides, which serves 4 families or households now for the past 12 years with a harvest of rich compost once per year. The cement-board composter also benefits from surrounding geothermal insulated ground flowing into its base.
Cooling your home efficiently is crucial, and one method not discussed is using dehumidifiers alongside your AC. They help by making the air feel cooler, reducing the need for extensive air conditioning and consequently saving energy.