Reduce Cooling Costs and Stay Comfortable With These Tips

The long, hot summers in South Texas can make it expensive to keep your home comfortably cool. With these tips, you can save energy, reduce cooling costs and boost your comfort level.

How to Reduce Cooling Costs

• Invest in a programmable thermostat. Choose an easy-to-program thermostat that matches your weekly schedule. Program in 3 to 4-degree temperature setbacks for at least eight hours a day and you’ll save up to 10 percent on yearly energy consumption.
• Get the air ducts sealed and insulated. To stop wasting up to a third of your system’s cooling capacity, have a pro seal the seams with mastic sealant and then wrap any attic and crawl space ducting with R-6 insulation.
• Limit solar heat gain through the windows. Apply heat-blocking window film or install energy efficient shades or blinds and your home will be easier and less costly to cool.
• Keep warm air out and cool air in. Increase the insulation level on the attic floor to at least R-38, and insulate and seal the access hatch too. Then, use weatherstripping, caulk or expandable foam to plug costly air leaks around your home’s doors, windows and any shell penetrations.
• Run ceiling fans with the blades spinning counterclockwise. The wind chill this creates makes you feel cooler so you can save energy by dialing up the thermostat setting by about two degrees.
• Don’t add extra heat to the A/C’s workload. Leave the range and oven off and cook on the outdoor grill instead. Avoid the clothes dryer and hang out the laundry to let clean loads air dry instead of using your dishwasher’s heated dry option.
• Ventilate kitchen and bathroom humidity. To lower the A/C’s cooling load even more and help prevent mold growth, run exhaust fans to get rid of warm, moist air generated by cooking, showering and bathing.
• Replace an older air conditioner. Upgrade to a high-efficiency air conditioner to reduce your yearly energy bills by 20 to 50 percent. To increase your potential savings another 15 percent, opt for an Energy Star-rated model.

Contact the comfort pros at CCAC to learn more about how to reduce cooling costs in your Coastal Bend home.

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

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