Although there are a lot of things about the summertime to enjoy, if there’s one that none of us looks forward to, it’s the increase in our energy bills; ones that are usually directly related to how much we use our air conditioner. In fact, it’s during the summer months that many of us find ourselves spending more money on electricity than any other time of the year.
The good news is that there are a few things that you can do that will help to cool down your air conditioning costs. If you’d be interested in knowing what some of those things are, we have five of them for you below:
Program your thermostat to 73 degrees. When it’s burning up outside, all that we can think about is getting inside of our house where it is nice and cool. But before you decide to adjust your thermostat, here’s something to keep in mind. According to many energy experts, you can actually keep the rooms of your house at a comfortable temperature, even in the summertime, by setting it to 73 degrees. As an added bonus, leaving it at that temperature will also prevent your energy bills from significantly increasing.
Turn on your ceiling fans. If you do happen to have a day when you would like your house to be just a bit cooler, turn on your ceiling fans. They are designed to improve the air circulation throughout your house; plus, they can decrease the temperature in your home by as much as 5-7 degrees.
Tint or clothe your windows. Natural lighting is great, but during the summer, it can also be the cause of a lot of heat coming into your home. There are two relatively simple things that you can do to make the rooms in your house cooler, though. You can either have your windows professionally tinted or you can install some solar or mesh-like window screens. They are proven to prevent close to 70 percent of solar energy from coming into your house.
Spend more time in your basement. Say that you’re in the process of renovating your basement and you have made an appointment with an HVAC technician to put in a wall unit. As you’re asking them questions like which unit is best or how a split air conditioner works , something that they might mention to you is that it’s a good idea to spend as much time as possible in your basement during the summertime. Being that basements tend to have less windows, that means that less sun rays can get in and ultimately, you will be cooler.
Plant more trees. Finally, something that you can do to beautify your yard and also cool down your house is plant more trees. That’s because trees provide shade. So, plant some in front of your windows and also put one close to the outside unit of your air conditioner. That will give it shade, which will prevent it from having to work as hard, which will help to lower your energy costs. And that’s super cool.