Lowering AC cooling costs

There are several means to lower air conditioning costs, from AC filters cleaning and regular maintenance to the use of ventilation fans, thermostats, zoning, etc.

For means to dispense with or to strongly reduce the use of air conditioners, see: Alternatives to Air conditioners

Ventilation and fans

Use fans and ventilation instead of air conditioning, whenever possible. Ceiling fans (and other types of fans) can be very effective. Consider also cross and natural ventilation.

See: Ventilation and fans and Natural ventilation

Thermostats

Use programmable thermostats to set the temperature up (when leaving the home) and down (some time before entering). You may save 4% on your air conditioning bills for each degree you raise the thermostat... A thermostat setting of 78ºF/26ºC is often sufficient to make your home comfortable.

See: Thermostats basics

Doors and windows

For room air-conditioners, do not forget to isolate the room(s) to be cooled. And do not operate your central air conditioning without keeping all windows and entry doors closed (open doors and windows is a cause of malfunction).

Don’t cool unoccupied rooms

Don’t cool unoccupied rooms, but also do not shut off too many registers. That will put pressure on the air conditioning system.

Inefficient appliances

Get rid of inefficient appliances. Old refrigerators and other domestic appliances are energy-inefficient, emit too much heat and demand higher air conditioning. Also replace incandescent light bulbs with CFL (fluorescents):they emit less heat, besides being more energy-efficient.

Outside air option

If your room air conditioner has an outside air option, use it as little and sparely as possible.

Clean the air filters

Clean or replace the AC air filters regularly, during the cooling season. This is the immediate best single way of lowering air conditioner costs. Dirty filters impede normal AC airflow.

See: AC filters

Do regular and professional maintenance

An adequate 1) refrigerant charge, 2) airflow, 3) cleaned coils and blower and 4) insulated and non-leaking AC ducts… is critical to get high performance from your air conditioning system.

Fixing problems in any of these areas can easily improve efficiency by 10%-20%...

See:

Professional Technician Services
Refrigerant charge
Outdoor Coils Cleaning
Indoor Coils Cleaning
Blower Cleaning
Room air conditioner maintenance
Sizing Air Conditioning
AC installation

Other measures

Pay attention to some non-cost or very low-cost rules and procedures to reduce air conditioning bills:

- adjust the air conditioning settings according with seasons. You may get huge savings or wastes for each degree the thermostat is raised or lowered;

- adjust the use of air conditioning to the presence or non-presence of people in the house;

- use the fan-only option during the night;

- use shades, awnings, blinds, window films (or trees in the outdoors…);

- in high humidity days, set the AC fan speed on low;

- ask an air conditioning professional to install timers or switches to shut the air conditioning off when not needed.