For many homeowners, to think about "home energy efficiency" usually means thinking about CFL light bulbs and running the dryer less frequently. In reality, energy efficiency is often just as much about how your equipment is working as it is about changing your behavior or your lightbulbs. Take air conditioning, for example. Air conditioning is one of the biggest energy consumers in any given building, particularly here in Arizona. And whether you like to keep your home icy cold or just-barely-tolerable, you can reap significant energy savings by making sure that your air conditioner is functioning properly. At Ideal Energy, we often recommend that homeowners upgrade their air conditioning equipment to energy efficient, Energy Star certified air conditioners. But that's not always necessary: sometimes, a simple AC tune-up is sufficient to increase the energy efficiency of your existing air conditioner sufficiently to produce real, tangible energy savings (and increased comfort, as well).

During our home energy audit, we include an air conditioner energy efficiency analysis to determine whether your AC could benefit from a tune-up, or whether a new AC unit would produce significant enough energy savings to warrant an upgarde. For more information about how you can save money on air conditioning costs here in Phoenix, or to schedule an energy audit today, contact us here!Why Now is the Ideal Time to Purchase a New AC Unit As the weather warms up, you are probably starting to crack open the windows and you may even be pulling the fan out of the closet. Soon, it will be warm enough that even your heavy duty electric fan won’t cut it and you will be tempted to switch on the air conditioning. But maybe you don’t have an air conditioner, or maybe your AC is on its last legs. After all, they do become less efficient over time. Like your laptop computer, the physical life of your HVAC equipment can often be longer than its economic life. Replacing air conditioning equipment, particularly units that are over 15 years old, can result in major energy savings.

So, what do you do? When is the ideal time to shop for a new air conditioning unit? You might think you can put it off for another couple of months. The temperature is still pretty cool and maybe you can find an air conditioning company that offers a great memorial day sale. That may be true, but it is best to take care of the issue now rather than to scramble for a solution during peak AC season when you’re melting into your black leather couch. ac heat unit pricesThe best time to shop around for a new air conditioning service is in the springtime.purchase central ac unit For one thing, the early spring months are slower for air conditioning contractors, so you are less likely to have to wait for installation. costs of hvac systems for homes

Two-thirds of all homes in the United States have air conditioners. If you wait until the middle of summer to have your unit serviced, you will be competing with many other AC owners for the HVAC company’s immediate attention. Many air conditioning services will offer preseason discounts in order to generate business during the slower times of the year. Take advantage of these low prices! Purchase early to get the best deals and avoid the crowds. This will also allow you to take your time when choosing the perfect AC unit. Don’t wait until you are desperate. Spend time doing research and calculating costs. The end of April is approaching and we are running out of time to properly equip our homes for the impending hot weather. Buy a new air conditioner today.A programmable thermostat automatically raises or lowers the termperature. The ideal setting for your air conditioner depends on your priorities. The higher you set the thermostat in summer, the lower your electric bill will be, so if your first priority is keeping your bills down, choosing higher temperatures serves you best.

However, if your first priority is remaining comfortable, you might want to set the temperature lower, even though doing so is more expensive. When it comes to energy usage and wear on the air conditioning system, the warmer you keep your home, the better. Set the thermostat to 78 degrees Fahrenheit, which is the Energy Star recommendation for the coolest you should keep your home. See whether this is a comfortable temperature for you or whether you think you can tolerate your home being a few degrees warmer. Raise the temperature setting if you're willing to do so. Increase it one degree at a time until you find the warmest temperature at which you are comfortable. Use this temperature setting for the hours when you are at home and awake. Lower the setting by one degree at a time if 78 degrees is too warm for you until you find a comfortable temperature. Be aware that each degree colder you keep your home adds to your electric bill. Increase the temperature setting by at least 7 degrees when the house is empty.

If you don't have pets, you can set the thermostat even higher and save more electricity. Set the thermostat at least 4 degrees higher than your base temperature when you and your family go to bed. Most people can sleep comfortably in a warm room. If you find that you can't, lower the thermostat back to your daytime levels. Tip References Energy Star: A Guide to Energy-Efficient Heating and CoolingSRP: Air Conditioning and Heat PumpsEnergy.gov: Thermostats and Control Systems Photo Credits Comstock Images/Comstock/Getty Images Suggest a Correction Is this the ideal home air conditioner? The heat of August is upon us, and if you’re trying to save up some money for that end-of-summer vacation, revving up the air conditioner at full blast might not be a preferable option. Meeting somewhere in the middle has translated to cheap bedside fans, or room coolers that end up being either less effective or more expensive than you originally planned. But Korean product designer Euikyun Koh has a solution in his innovative “Air-Tree,” a modern and minimalist air conditioner that spreads cold air through your home in a panoramic 360 degrees.

But this isn’t just your average rotating fan: The air spreads all the way through your home and efficiently decreases the temperature. Related: Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: $5 computers, cold-brew coffee makers, and more To use the air conditioner, Koh explains on his Behance page, adjust the height of the wooden board on top of the unit. As you pull up the board, the “wind power” increases as you raise the height of the board. Likewise, it’ll decrease as you push the board back down. When the user wants to use the Air-Tree for personal cooling, they simply have to remove a touch-based remote control from the body of the unit. After the remote is removed, the Air-Tree’s body turns itself to send cool air in the user’s direction. Koh also details the innards of the device via a useful graphic, which shows an evaporator for heat absorption, a suction fan to pull warm air inside the unit, an emission fan to send out the cool air, an expansion valve to control the outgoing air pressure, a water escape pipe, and an evaporator pipe.