It’s heating up outside, which means it’s probably getting warmer inside your home, too! Constantly running your air conditioning to keep things cool can have a big impact on your energy bill, but there are a few things you can do to keep your costs down during these warmer months.

Keeping an Energy Efficient Home throughout Summer

It’s important to keep your home comfortable for your family throughout the summer, but how can you do so without paying the price on an insanely high energy bill? Follow these summer energy efficiency tips to save on your energy costs:

• Turn out the lights. Leaving unnecessary lights on eats up energy. When you exit a room, make it a habit to flick the light switch- especially if you’re leaving for an extended amount of time. Plus, much of the energy emitted from a light bulb is heat!
• Close the shades. Keep the hot summer sun from warming up your house by closing the window shades and blinds, especially throughout the hottest parts of the day.
• Cook outside. Summer is the perfect time to make use of that gas or charcoal grill that’s been sitting unused over the winter. Plus, running your oven or stove on a hot summer’s day can increase the temperature in your kitchen by as much as 10 degrees!
• Save the chores for the evening. Put off the heat and moisture-inducing tasks like laundry, ironing, running the dishwasher, etc., until the later hours of the day. Avoid using the heated dry option on your dishwasher, too, and let the dishes air dry.
• Keep the doors closed. Constantly opening and closing doors allows cool air to escape and warm air to come in. Try to avoid unnecessary trips in and out of the house as much as possible.
• Replace your filter. A clean filter will allow your air conditioning unit to run much more efficiently, so remember to replace it every month for maximum benefit. A dirty filter will restrict the airflow in your home, making your system work that much harder and longer, thus increasing the energy output.
• Unplug appliances not in use. Most new appliances use electricity even when they aren’t turned on an in use. An easy way to eliminate this wasted energy is to plug your devices into a power strip- your TV, cable box, DVD player, and stereo can get plugged into one strip, while things like your computer, printer, phone chargers,etc., can get plugged into another. When you’re leaving the home for the day, make it a habit to switch off these power strips.
• Turn up the thermostat. Set your air conditioning at as high a temperature as possible that still allows you to feel cool inside. Between 76 and 78 degrees is usually the recommended temperature while you’re in the home, and when you’re not there turn it up even higher so it’s not kicking on and cooling down an empty house. You should also make sure that all your vents are clear of objects so there’s nothing obstructing the flow of cool air into your home.

Do you have questions about summer energy efficiency? If you’re in the Cleveland area and need maintenance on your air conditioning unit, give us a call at 216-663-6462.