Easy Tips to Make a Difference in Your Cooling Bill!

“Heating and cooling your home uses more energy and drains more energy dollars than any other system in your home. Typically, 45% of your utility bill goes for heating and cooling."

The first rule of thumb in any type of equipment (especially in the home) is maintenance. If your heating and cooling system is serviced regularly by a certified technician, your unit will be more energy efficient and run for longer. According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Laboratory at the Berkeley Lab,

“By combining proper equipment maintenance and upgrades with appropriate insulation, air sealing, and thermostat settings, you can cut your energy use for heating and cooling, and reduce environmental emissions, from 20% to 50%.”

This reduction can help homeowners save money on their bills.

An environmentally friendly system has a high number of SEERs. A Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio is how air conditioners are measured in efficiency and energy conservation. The current governmentally approved ratio is 13 SEER. Air conditioning units rated at 13 SEER usually have Energy Star® rebates that will also save you money. Some other tips: *Keep windows and blinds closed – the more heat you can prevent from coming into the home, the less work the cooling unit is going to have to do. *Turn on the air conditioner before the hottest part of the day. Your home “soaks” up heat as soon as the sun rises in the morning, and if you wait to begin cooling the house after it is hot, the air conditioning unit is going to have to work at full power, longer. This will increase running costs, because the unit will utilize more electricity for longer. *Clean or replace filters when needed

These are just a few ideas to kick off the warm summer months with a ‘cooler’ attitude on air conditioning maintenance.

All of the information for this blog entry can be found at http://hes.lbl.gov/hes/makingithappen/tips.html. Once inside the web page, the specific article titled “Heating and Cooling” can be navigated to using the left side bar. When there find the "Heating and Cooling" tab and click on "Tips from Energy Savers". Last access 6/9/08.

The website I am using as a source is the output of the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, a leader in science and engineering research for the U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories. This web page is titled “Making it Happen” and provides ways that everyday homeowners can conserve energy. http://www.lbl.gov/LBL-PID/LBL-Overview.html

More information at: http://www.lfpress.com/perl-bin/publish.cgi?x=articles&p=230466&s=energyguide. The London Free Press’ Energy Guide “Keeping Cool: Is Your Central Air Conditioning System Ready to Handle the Summer Heat?” April 16, 2008. *last accessed 6/10/08. This is an article also going over the various steps one should take towards pre-summer maintenance. There are also a couple of helpful links in the article to find more information. Please check back often as the blog will be updated with more information about energy saving tips for heating and cooling products!