How much did you pay to air condition your home last summer? As a whole, US homeowners spend about $11 billion per year on air conditioning. If you’re eager to lower your individual bill, look to home ventilation to stay cool before you turn on the air conditioner. You have two primary options.
Natural Ventilation
Nothing is cheaper than opening a window and tempting a cool breeze to enter. Relying on the wind to cool your home only works when it’s cooler outside than inside. You can open two windows across from each other to create a cross-wise breeze for more effective home ventilation.
Try opening the windows at night and letting cool air enter while you sleep. Then, in the morning, close the windows and draw the curtains to trap cool air inside. You might get away with not turning on the air conditioner until late afternoon.
Fans
Another way to increase circulation is to turn on a fan. Stick a box fan in the window to encourage more air to enter. Run the ceiling fan to create a cooling wind chill effect. This tactic makes the air feel 4 degrees cooler. Just remember, fans cool you off by creating airflow; they don’t actually lower the temperature. To save energy, turn off the fan when you leave the room.
For more ways to use home ventilation to your advantage, please contact Amarillo Air Conditioning. We’ve been proudly serving Amarillo residents since 1960.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Amarillo, Texas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about home ventilation and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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