3 Ways to Improve Household Energy Efficiency

Summers in central Ohio are hot, muggy and decidedly unpleasant. A reliable air conditioner is your best defense against the high temperatures, and can keep your home cool and comfortable throughout the summer months. Naturally, you’re going to pay more in high energy bills for running the air conditioner more often. This necessity can unfortunately hide the fact that you may be paying more than you should.

By improving your home’s energy efficiency, you can help cut into those costs without sacrificing your family’s health and comfort. Some steps can be taken completely on your own, and you may be doing so already. Set your thermostat to 78 degrees instead of 75, for example, and open up the house in the cool of the evening instead of running the AC. But more extensive options are available as well, and when installed by trained professionals, they can save you a great deal of money with improved efficiency for years to come

1. Dehumidifiers

High humidity levels can create extra, unnecessary work for air conditioning systems. When the relative humidity gets too high, the sweat won’t evaporate off of your skin, which is our bodies’ natural way of keeping cool. The air feels hotter and the air conditioner has to work harder to do its job. It can lower the humidity by default since lowering the temperature causes the ambient moisture to coalesce into droplets. But it’s not set up for such duties, and while it can serve as a crude dehumidifier, that will add further stress and strain to the system.

A formal dehumidifier does the job much more efficiently, and most models allow you to adjust relative humidity levels to suit your family’s tastes. More importantly, it eases the strain on your air conditioner and helps it do its job without costing quite so much.

2. Smart Thermostats

Thermostats are designed to last a long time, which is great. The one downside is that you can miss some of the advances in the field, and if you have an older digital thermostat, you may want to consider upgrading it with a smart model. Smart thermostats can analyze your cooling patterns and make automatic adjustments to improve efficiency, and some models can also make adjustments based on the local conditions at the time.

3. Zone Control Systems

Zone control systems allow for more precise control over your air conditioners by setting up a series of shutters at key points in your ducts. With them, you can set different temperatures in different rooms to suit your taste, or even turn off the air in parts of the home you don’t use during the day (like the bedrooms), while it continues to run in the parts of the home you are occupying. Zone control systems work best in larger homes, but most households can still benefit from the savings they offer.

If any of these options sound like a good fit for your Columbus, OH home, call on the friendly pros at Quality Air Heating and Air Conditioning today to make an appointment!