Day Seven - Cool Talk

It’s hot. The first really hot day of the summer, and it isn’t even officially summer yet.

We went down to Philadelphia today, to an event we’d bought tickets to months ago. In the spirit of our challenge, we didn’t drive. We took trains and subways, and a taxi for two legs of the journey, because we couldn’t figure out the bus system. Hey, it’s intimidating for most suburbanites.

Anyway, it was about 110 degrees in the city, and air conditioners everywhere were running full force.

We put our own window unit in yesterday, in anticipation of four or five days in a row in the nineties. Mall Dad absolutely cannot sleep when it’s hot, so fans were not an option. But I read somewhere that each year in the U.S., we use the equivalent of more than 400 tankers worth of crude oil in energy for residential air conditioning.

So, how can we reduce our energy use when cooling our homes?

According to “Mr. Electricity,” Michael Bluejay (www.michaelbluejay.com), there are lots of ways. For instance, install a programmable timer for central air, or put window units on plug-in timers. It’s an urban myth that it costs less to cool your house when you leave the air on all day.

Also, keep the thermostat at 80 degrees, and use ceiling fans. Every degree below 78 uses 3% to 4% additional energy.

Don’t cool unused rooms. Close AC vents and doors. And use curtains to block sunlight, which can heat rooms.

For many more tips, check out Mr. Electricity’s website at:
http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/cooling.html

Day Six Tip: Put air conditioners on timers to save energy.