The Department of Energy estimates that up to half of your energy bill in the summer can be attributed to air conditioning. If you’d like to lower your cooling costs this summer without sacrificing comfort, consider these suggestions for reducing the amount of electricity you use while keeping your home cooler.

Home improvements

• Thermal windows provide the best protection from the heat. If those are out of reach, consider shade screens that can stop up to 90 percent of the heat entering your home. If your neighborhood doesn’t allow them, hanging insulating drapes indoors can lower your cooling costs.
• Check your home for air leaks between the windows and exterior doors. Fill small cracks with exterior caulk or larger ones with expanding foam. Inspect places where you have pipes, cables or wires coming inside. Plugging those reduces heat coming into your home.
• Keep the air filters for your air conditioner clean. If they get dirty, your air conditioner loses efficiency and increases your electric bill. Clean your outdoor condenser and be sure that vegetation is trimmed back several feet. Use a light spray with the hose to remove dirt.
• Change your light bulbs to CFL or LED to lower the cooling load indoors. These energy-efficient bulbs emit less heat than older incandescent styles.

Lifestyle habits

• Take your cooking outside or do it early in the day or in the evening. Avoid using your oven during the heat of the day. Use your microwave more, since it uses less electricity and doesn’t create residual heat.
• Turn your ventilating fans off once they’ve done their job. Although the fans seem small, they can exhaust lots of the conditioned air in your home.
• Increase the temperature in your home. Each degree you raise it above 72 degrees saves 1 to 3 percent on your electric bill.

Servicing your air conditioner annually can lower your cooling costs. If you’d like more information, contact Smoky Mountain Heating & Air to learn more.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about lowering cooling costs and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Smoky Mountain Heating & Air services Asheville, North Carolina and the surrounding areas. Visit our website to see our special offers and get started today!          

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