How to Use Your Air Conditioner

Statistically speaking, a good portion of Australia has its hottest time of the year from November to March. So, I thought it was a good time to share some thoughts on the modern household’s biggest energy consumer over summer – the Air Conditioner.

See, normally I’d assume that we’re all adults and we’re able to decide for ourselves how to run our own appliances. But after talking to many family and friends throughout the Gold Coast region, I’ve noticed that most people leave their air conditioners running 24 hours a day, whether it is warm or cool outside, with their houses at a stupidly low temperature. Yes folks, it has become obvious that Aussies need a lesson from Air Care on how to use their Air Conditioners.

Reduce Your Electricity Bill

At the national average price for electricity of 12 cents/kWh, your average air conditioning system burns 36 cents per hour, or $86 per month if used for 8 hours per day or $258 per month if used for 24 hours per day. With a three-month cooling season, this would compound to SEVERAL THOUSAND dollars of wasted electricity every ten years.

So how do you reduce your electricity bill? The answer of course is that you just cut out the waste, without sacrificing any real happiness or comfort.

Take advantage of the natural cycle of the environment. The temperature usually drops at night. So, take advantage of this fact and open all your windows and use ceiling fans. The Naturally Cool crowd also makes a point of enjoying more outdoor food cooking and clothes drying on hot days, to further reduce indoor heat sources.

This is to be contrasted with the behaviour of Air Conditioning addicts, who set their thermostats to a silly temperature below 25 degrees and let that baby run 24 hours. They might turn it off at night, but forget to open the windows, so they miss out on the free night-time cooling. All of this is completely unnecessary.

Be Energy Smart

Turning on the Air Conditioning should be an exciting moment in your household, when everyone is drinking their gallon-sized containers of ice water, wearing comfortable and summery outfits of bare feet and tank tops, and the ceiling fan is running, when you proclaim, “Dammit it is hot today!! Let’s turn on the AIR CONDITIONING!! YEAH!!!!”

You run it for a few hours at 26 degrees, then the sun goes down, and you shut it back off again. You open the windows that night and run the fan and go on with your lives.