Hello World! Welcome Friends! There are a lot of ideas about how your home uses power and what you can do to save on power. While some of these ideas are brilliant and innovative, others will just waste more energy for you in the long run. To help you sort out fact from fiction we list out several of the most common myths in home power usage and explain the reality behind them.
Leaving Fans on to Keep a Room Cool
Fans work primarily by moving the air around, help you feel cool by, essentially, producing wind. If there is nobody in the room to feel the effects, then leaving fans on is a waste of energy. Turn fans off when you leave the room along with the lights and you can save the power for other things.
Minimum or Maximum Thermostat Levels Changes Temperature Faster
This is a myth that likely comes from the air conditioner on our cars – when we turn the car’s blower up to max and set the temperature to minimum, the car cools faster. Some window AC units work in a similar fashion, helping to spread the myth. Home air conditioning systems work differently. Your home AC unit is not a blower that can be adjusted. It is always at ‘maximum’ and works on an on/off system.
Your thermostat simply controls the conditions under which the AC turns “on” or “off.” Setting it to its lowest possible temperature will not make a difference to the rate your AC cools the home, it’ll simply work harder to try and cool your home to that minimum level and may simply keeping running non-stop.
You Need New Windows
While it is true that some heat is lost through the windows, there is not a whole lot you can actually do about that. There are specially designed window panes that do a better job providing insulation, the problem is many of these windows are expensive. The energy savings from these windows thus will not be enough to justify the initial investment for well beyond their expected life expectancy. Making use of drapes or curtains is a cheaper, more efficient option.
Closing Vents Saves Energy
Your air conditioning system does not know when a vent is open or closed. As a result, it will work exactly the same regardless of how many vents you leave open. In fact, this can result in greater energy usage since heat naturally transfers into colder areas. Thus, by closing off parts of the house, you are creating hot spots in your house that warm the parts you are trying to cool, killing the efficiency of your cooling system. So leave those vents open and let the system do its job.
New Air Conditioner Automatically Means Savings
This is sort of a half-myth. While it is true that an energy efficient air conditioner system will realize cost savings right away, this is contingent upon proper installation. If you do not go through a qualified AC install technician such as Adams AC then you may end up paying more in the long run due to inefficiencies created by improper installation.
To counter this, make sure you only go through qualified, licensed installers when replacing your current AC unit.
Staying on top of your energy consumption is a laudable endeavor, but beware the allure of these myths. A lot of them sound like they should work, but that is often how myths get started. An idea that ‘makes sense’ in your head is implemented, and when things are running fine you assume you did the right thing. That ignores the possibility that everything was fine already, and your actions might have made things slightly worse. As such, do your research when you are told something new about how to save power, and watch out for these common myths.
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Toodles,
Great post !
A lot of it depends on whether you can put the system together yourself or whether you have to “pay the man” to do it. Certainly, it is true you do have to adapt your lifestyle to successfully live off grid. And it is also true that Winters are tough.
great post!great color scheme and interior design!plus super great tip, thank you so much for sharing this!