Submitted By: Linda Riebel (linda.riebel@earthlink.net)
Challenge
In the typical home in the U.S., air conditioning uses more electricity than anything else -- 16% of total electricity used. In warmer regions, AC can easily exceed 50% of your summer electric bill. In Lafayette, many homes have central air conditioning, which typically uses 3500+ watts. That's a lot of energy--the same as sixty 60-watt light bulbs and more than the average residential solar system produces. By comparison, a ceiling fan uses only 15-95 watts and a refrigerator uses about 350 watts when the door is left wide open. So, when my husband Brad and I moved to Lafayette, we decided that one of the easiest ways to save energy would be to not use our central air conditioning system, unless we were absolutely melting. In two years, we have turned on the air conditioning on about five days. We didn't have to invest a penny to make a big impact for the earth. In fact, we saved a bundle!
Solution Details
- Close blinds and curtains during the day, and open them at night.
- Open windows that can be safely left open at night; close them during the day.
- Use our ceiling fans and portable fans which help keep us cool and use much less energy than AC
- Find the areas in our house that naturally stay the coolest and spend time there.
- Apply low-emissivity film to windows that face the sun.
- Get up earlier and do some activities before it gets hot.
- Go grocery shopping or run other errands during the hot part of the day to get a little break from the heat.
- Have cold drinks ready to pull out of the fridge.
- Enjoy salads and sandwiches instead of cooking hot meals.
- Soak a face towel, wring it out slightly, and drape it around your neck. Take it off every ten minutes or so to let it cool off, then reapply.
- Go barefoot around the house.
- Wear less to bed.
- Enjoy the season's changes in light and heat, rather than resenting them.
Benefits & Payback
My husband Brad has done some calculations on the very few days we've had the AC running. It takes 5 kwh per hour, or $1.50 an hour, or $18 per day if we ran it for 12 hours. If we ran it 12 hours a day for a month, that would cost over $500 in one month alone. So we save a substantial amount of money each summer.
By foregoing artificial cooling, we participate in the rhythms of the day and of the season. I enjoy the nightly round of opening windows to let in cool night-time air, and the morning task of putting down the blinds. Nature has seasons, and we enjoy them, including the relief when the heat of summer eventually gives way to autumn.
Another small benefit is that not running the AC helps us stay thin. I am a retired psychologist who specialized in eating disorders for 25 years. In researching the causes of obesity for my most recent professional publication, I found that -- believe it or not! -- air conditioning is listed by some experts as one of the many causes of obesity. Think about it: your body has to work to maintain a steady temperature, either by burning calories in winter or by perspiring and doing other physiological processes in the summer. Air conditioning eliminates your body's summertime temperature maintenance task, thereby contributing (slightly) to obesity.
Our main reason for limiting use of AC, of course, is to help our planet and the creatures who share it with us.
Informational Links
Michael Bluejays tips for saving energy on cooling - http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/cooling.html
