You Can Enjoy A Lower Energy Bill By Following These 3 Steps
Texas isn’t the kind of the state that is guaranteed to get buried in snow in the winter the way other parts of the country do. But that doesn’t mean that this part of the USA doesn’t need climate control. When things get hot in Texas, they can get really hot.
So while people might be uncomfortable, and sweat a little, or have trouble sleeping thanks to the humidity, that kind of heat and moisture in the air can damage electronics like computers.
And if you use computers to get your work done, that’s not a situation you want to be in. Fortunately, we’ve got air conditioners to keep the temperature stable, but are you paying more on your AC bills than you need to? We have three easy steps you can follow to ensure your cooling energy isn’t being wasted.
Get a New Thermostat
Thermostats of old just needed to turn on or off, and allow you to set the building temperature to your preferred level. If your thermostat doesn’t even have a digital control, it’s definitely time to start thinking about an upgrade. That very simplicity in design is leading some cooling inefficiencies that add a bit more to your bill than needed.
New thermostats, in addition to digital controls, give you much more control over your cooling. You can program them to start cooling at specific temperatures for different parts of the day.
The latest, “smart” thermostats even monitor daily living habits, “learning” what people do in a house and automatically adjusting cooling to those needs. They can even provide data about energy usage, or be operated remotely from a person’s smartphone!
Ensure Ducts Are In Good Condition
Air ducts are a common means of carrying air that’s been heated or cooled throughout a home and pumping it into rooms through vents. But air ducts are, like plumbing, just pipes.
Over time, any number of things can happen to ducts that can cause a break or leak, and that impacts your efficiency. Have a professional come in and conduct a regular “check-up” on your HVAC system.
This includes inspecting not just the AC and furnace, but ducts as well for dirt and, critically, or leaks. Once found, leaks can be sealed up and restored to efficiency, thus lowering your bills.
Use Curtains or Drapes with Windows
The window is designed to admit as much natural light as possible. But if you own a cat or a dog, you know that they often like to lie in the spots where sun comes through the window, and that’s because it’s not just light, but heat that comes in too!
Judicious use of drapes, curtains or blinds with the windows that get the most sunlight during the brightest parts of the day can help. This prevents that heat from simply radiating into the rest of the room, and forcing your AC to get into even higher gear to keep the house cool.
We’ve got a lot of things going for us here in San Antonio, TX but sometimes that can mean we aren’t paying attention to the ways we use our energy or the volume of it. With a bit of mindfulness over how we operate our ACs, we can lower energy bills by being less wasteful about cooling our homes and workplaces!
