Plan Your Cooling Bill Reduction Project Carefully

If your home has high cooling bills, GreenHomes recommends getting a quality energy audit. For example, a proper energy audit pinpoints the true sources of energy waste in your home. Additionally, the audit becomes your roadmap or plan for reducing air conditioning costs. Finally, an energy audit helps improve your home comfort in the summertime.

Tips to Reduce AC Bills

Here are 10 simple tips for reducing the air conditioning bills in your home. Talk to an energy auditor or quality contractor to see which of the following makes the most sense for your home:

1. Use a programmable thermostat wisely. Increasing the indoor temperature automatically at night or during the day when no one is home in summer will reduce cooling costs.
2. Air seal your home professionally. An experienced contractor can test your home for air tightness. This test dramatically reduces the home’s air leakage rate. Additionally, this helps reduce cooling costs significantly.
3. Adding insulation in attics, basements and crawl spaces AFTER the home is air sealed will reduce cooling costs.
4. Insulating previously uninsulated areas such as attic hatches, band joists, kneewalls, garage ceilings (when your home has rooms over a garage), dropped soffits and exterior walls in older homes will reduce cooling costs.
5. High-efficiency cooling system upgrades save a significant amount on cooling costs.
6. Sealing air leaks in ductwork systems minimizes losing your air conditioner’s cool air to the outside saving on cooling costs.
7. Insulating ductwork when ducts are outside of the conditioned space reduces heat gains from the ducts until the cool air in the duct system is distributed to the areas of your home. This saves significantly on cooling costs.
8. Replacing older, leaky windows with high-efficiency windows that have a low Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) for homes located in warmer climates will help you save money on cooling costs.
9. Re-weatherstripping leaky doors will allow doors to close properly sealing out warm summer air further saving on cooling costs.
10. When possible, adding shading devices or awnings can minimize heat gains from the sun to help lower cooling bills.

GHA Helps Reduce AC Bills

As you can see, improving the comfort of homes during the summer can be challenging. To help the homeowner determine the best solution for their home, GreenHomes recommends getting a quality energy audit. Just remember, the energy audit by itself doesn’t improve the conditions of the home at all. Only when you actually install the prioritized recommendations will you lower your cooling costs and feel more comfortable in your home.