Q–Help us stay cool! Last year, we had air-conditioning bills in the hundreds of dollars. What can we do this year to keep those costs down?
A–For the last couple of weeks, we’ve been offering words of advice to keep air conditioners running efficiently. This week, we’ll talk about cooling techniques you can use in lieu of air conditioning, thanks to the help of John Porterfield, the director of the Energy Resources Initiatives program at the Renacer Westside Community Network.
Keep in mind that on extremely hot and humid days there’s little you can do except crank up your AC or soak in a cold bath.
But on those borderline days–when it’s mostly hot or mostly humid–there’s a simple solution to staying cool: fans.
“People rely way too much on air conditioning,” says Porterfield. “I think that’s because our cooling season is fairly short, we don’t have sufficient time to learn about other cooling methods.
“But you can cut air-conditioning costs by 90 percent by using brain power instead of electric power,” he says.
Start by purchasing a good quality fan or fans, says Porterfield. For example, consider a top-of-the-line window fan unit as well as a circular fan that you can move from room to room to cool you down as you conduct different activities.
Both are usually hundreds of dollars cheaper than an air conditioner and cost pennies a day instead of dollars a day to run.
“With both types of fan, get as big as a blade as possible, which is going to move some air,” says Porterfield. Also, fans with metal blades tend to be more durable than those with plastic blades.
When buying a circular fan, consider one that comes in a metal cage and can be placed a floor. Those fans can be easily angled or pointed in a certain direction and the fan cage itself can be spun 360 degrees to push air in a number of directions.
Window fans should be placed on the shadiest side of the house–often the north side of the house–where the air they will pull in will be cooler.
“Most houses are leaky enough so that the warm air that accumulates in them will then be pushed out,” says Porterfield. “But you can also open windows slightly to help with that.”
On really humid days, shut all the windows completely and run the fans only on the inside.
“Most people throw open every window instead, and that just lets the humidity in,” says Porterfield. “But by closing your house up you’ll prevent that humidity from getting in and it will feel more comfortable as long as you keep the fans running.”
Try not to do any cooking on the stove that day, as that will increase the indoor humidity levels.
On really warm and humid days, go ahead and turn on the AC but keep those fans running to push that cool air around. That will make the house feel cooler and help you to reduce your air-conditioning costs.
Then, when it cools down at night, put the window fan back in the window and pull in the cooler night air, says Porterfield.
You can also add ceiling fans, but portable fans are a lot more economical and take no installation.
A couple of other words of advice for beating the heat: Don’t forget to keep windows shaded on sunny days–at least those on the sunny side of the house. And keep heat-producing tasks such as cooking and laundry to a minimum, or do them at night when it’s cooler.
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Got a question about home energy or home environmental issues? Write to Energy Q&A, Chicago Tribune, Your Place section, 435 N. Michigan Ave., 4th Floor, Chicago, Ill. 60611. Or you can e-mail energy qa@aol.com. Questions will be answered only through the column.
