How much savings by raising thermostat?

[Lovegun]

Ask the Energy Expert about Air Conditioners

[Juram]

Not much, I remember a study that showed that to attain any sort of meaningful savings, you'd have to keep your thermostat set at 86 or above. Of course other factors come into this, insulation, quality of windows, quality of A/C unit, appropriateness of A/C unit for the particular size of home, the general orientation of your home(IE....do you have any massive windows facing due South or West that just seem to pull heat into the home)?


I think sensibly, most people want to be comfortable in their own homes, so spending a few bucks on insulation makes sense, there's some companies really doing the stuff dirt cheap, that or replacing your windows are all great options, if you're not looking to spend anything out-of-pocket, there's a solar lease available with a flat payment of $59-69 a month, depending on what utility you have, that eats up your priciest on-peak hours, thus leaving you with a much more manageable, reasonable bill. Sunscreens are another possibility, 3M has a very cool tint for windows that works exceptionally well.


Upgrading the ceiling fans in your home can still allow you to generally feel cooler, even with the thermostat turned up, just don't leave them running all day, the ceiling fan cools you, not the room.


Also, as always, following your time-of-use strictly will create the biggest savings without adding anything additional.


Doing your heavy-duty washing/drying/dishwashing...etc, on off-peak hours is less than 1/3 of the cost than doing it during on-peak. Be sure to be aware of exactly what plan you are on, and if that plan doesn't fit your lifestyle, your utility will often have a few different options, just stay away from the flat-rate plan as it tends to be extremely unfavorable in terms of pricing.

[shadow750]

I made these changes over the last two years and reduced my summer electric bill in half:
1) When the AC started to fail, replaced it with a more efficient model. That's not a change you make proactively, though. That knocked the bill back about $70 on the worst months.
2) I do all my own cooking and have a gas stove which exhausts a LOT of heat into the house (necessarily) -- so I set up a "summer kitchen" on the covered back patio. Electric/convection oven, rice cooker, crock pot. Between those and my BBQ I've eliminated nearly all indoor cooking during the summer.
3) Disconnected the projector in the media room and switched to an energy star LCD TV. Stopped using the old CRT monitors in the office (was using them just because they were there) and bought an LCD.
4) Changed out all the lamps I use the most to CFL, and half the overhead lights in the kitchen (I'll change the last 3 to CFL as well when they burn out). Especially in the office, where all the electronics are creating heat, switching the lighting to CFLs really cut down the amount of heat put out.

My A/C bills went from $300 beforehand to $121 this month.

Also, when I left town for four days I turned the A/C up to 85. I turned it back to my usual 76 when I returned and I think it ran for 7 hours nonstop to get the house back to temp -- it had to compensate for everything in the house retaining extra heat, I guess. Next time I think I'll only bump it up a few degrees at the most.