Pam and Jim Honeycutt figured out how to keep the air circulating through their home using a ceiling fan and floor fan. "Our attic is insulated to the hilt, which helps. By running the ceiling fan and floor fan, we have to turn up the air conditioner a lot less." The Honeycutts spend a lot less on their air conditioning than their neighbor friends.

A fan can help you feel just as comfortable with the thermostat four degrees higher. Your air conditioning bill decreases by about 6-8% for every degree that you raise your thermostat. That’s big savings for you, and a plus for the environment. Since air conditioning is the major energy expense in the warm weather, ceiling and area fans are a good investment.

You may also achieve energy savings by using a whole house fan. A whole house fan pulls cooler air in through lower windows and vents it out through the roof.  This lets you avoid the need to run your air conditioner at night, since you can quickly bring cooler night air into the house before going to bed. Some houses use an attic fan instead, which helps by removing hot air from the attic.
   

Fans use a lot less electricity than air conditioning and you can turn off ceiling and area fans when you leave a room. As with other appliances, whenever possible, choose an Energy Star model. Energy Star is a United States government program to promote energy efficiency.
    

Another way to reduce the use of air conditioning is extra ceiling insulation and good roof vents to keep hot attic air from heating up your home. These have the added advantage of not using electricity! Also, avoid cooling your home when you are not there.
  

The burning of coal and other fossil fuels to make electricity is the major cause of greenhouse gas emissions. Your biggest use of electricity most likely comes from heating and cooling. By using fans more and air conditioning less, or not at all, you take an important step to help prevent  global warming.

 

Copyright 2007 Christine Missik