It’s been rather hot lately and it feels good to be in a nice cool environment. However, if you’re concerned about your electricity bill at the end of the summer, you may consider turning that AC system off from time to time. Surprisingly I could not find much specific stats or data on AC energy consumption and waste, but we know that peak power loads occur repeatedly on hot days emitting large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
How about using fans more? Air moving over the skin seems to be all we need to feel cooler, and a fan does indeed decrease a room temperature. Fans are often much less noisy – doesn’t noise increase stress and more stress body temperature? What’s stressful too is going from hot to cold several times a day.
Shading techniques are also recommended to block direct sun coming through, as well as closing the windows during the hottest part of the day. It’s important however to keep fresh air moving, and strategically open a few windows to create cross ventilation earlier in the day and at night.
And remember that when appliances are running and stay on, they too create heat.
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