Efficient Summertime Room-Cooling Products

When the summer sun starts beating down, homeowners need to use all the tools available to stay cool. We’ve put together the following list of products to help keep your favorite room cool and comfortable this season, while cutting your energy consumption and saving some money in the process.

Frigidaire FAA055P7A Window Air Conditioner

Frigidaire FAA055P7A Window Air Conditioner

Whether or not your home has central air conditioning, a window AC unit can be a good option for keeping an area like a bedroom cool when you need it. Smaller units are energy-efficient, and work well in combination with other approaches to room cooling. They are also great for evening use with just the fan setting, to bring cooler outside air into the room.

Why It Was Chosen:
The Frigidaire FAA055P7A Window Air Conditioner is Energy Star rated, and has an EER (energy efficiency ratio) of 11.0. The compact 5,200 BTU design works well for rooms up to 165 square feet. It features a variable-speed fan, an auto-cool option, and a timer/sleep function, as well as a remote control. “Ionizer/Electrostatic Clean Air Filtration” helps remove allergens, and Low Voltage Compensation helps ensure smooth operation despite power fluctuations.

You can find the Frigidaire FAA055P7A Window Air Conditioner at Amazon for $134.79.

Unistar 4-in-1 Swamp Cooler

Unistar 4-in-1 Swamp Cooler

Portable evaporative coolers use much less electricity than air conditioners, yet they can substantially reduce the temperature in a room. Important note: certain parts of the country are better suited for evaporative coolers since the coolers work best in dry climates, and their effectiveness is reduced when ambient humidity is high.

Why It Was Chosen:
According to the manufacturer, the Unistar can reduce a room’s temperature by up to 12 degrees under optimal conditions. It features three fan speed settings and a shut-off timer, as well as a built-in ionizer to improve air quality. The Unistar is a fairly compact design (13”x 10”x 28”) with caster wheels to move it from room to room, and the unit also includes two ice packs for the water reservoir to increase cooling.

The Unistar 4-In-1 Swamp Cooler is available from Amazon for $89.99.

Hunter Bayview 5-Blade Ceiling Fan

Hunter Bayview 5-Blade Ceiling Fan

A ceiling fan improves air circulation, which makes a warmer room feel much more comfortable. In fact, “wind chill” from a ceiling fan can make an 82-degree room feel like a much-more-reasonable 76 degrees. It will also help distribute cool air if used in conjunction with an air conditioner, allowing the AC to be set at a reduced level while achieving the same results.

Why It Was Chosen:
The Hunter Bayview 54-inch, 5-blade ceiling fan features a quiet, durable motor, and the wide palm-style blades move more air than narrower straight blades. The wobble-free mounting can be attached on level or angled ceilings. It’s also UL damp-rated for settings where moisture can be a problem.

The Hunter Bayview 5-blade ceiling fan is available from Amazon for $159.99.

Seabreeze Turbo-Aire Room Fan

Seabreeze Turbo-Aire Room Fan

Even in settings where a ceiling fan isn’t practical, a room fan will still help circulate air within a room, or it can be positioned to bring cooler fresh air in through an open window.

Why It Was Chosen:
The Seabreeze Turbo-Aire Room Fan has gotten excellent marks from a MetaEfficient editor, as well as Amazon customers. It’s quiet, and it offers three speed settings capable of moving up to 11,000 cubic feet of air per minute. The fan head rotates 90 degrees, and the 15-inch diameter design is compact enough for floor or tabletop usage.

The Seabreeze Turbo-Aire Room Fan is available for $79.95 at Amazon.

Hunter Douglas Duette Architella Honeycomb Window Shades

Hunter Douglas Duette Architella Honeycomb Window Shades

Keeping hot sunlight from streaming through the windows means you can reduce (or maybe even eliminate) AC usage. Plus, window shades with a honeycomb cross-section provide insulation as well as light-blocking.

Why It Was Chosen:
Hunter Douglas Duette Architella shades are some of the most energy-efficient blinds on the market. For summertime cooling, the 1.25” opaque style with a light-blocking metalized core offers maximum efficiency, and blocks 87% of solar heat (a shading coefficient of 0.13). Extra bonus: when the weather cools off again next winter, these blinds provide an insulating R-value of over 7, which is a huge improvement over a double-paned window alone. Finally, these blinds are Greenguard-certified for indoor air quality, and they can qualify homeowners for a federal tax credit of up to $1,500.

Learn more at the Hunter Douglas website.

You might also be interested in our tips for helping your entire home stay efficiently cool in the hot weather.

Who says that a home with cutting-edge energy efficiency has to look like an ultra-modern pod? This recently completed Wisconsin home packs so much energy tech that it makes money by selling electricity back to the grid, and it still keeps a low neighborhood profile.

Neumann Developments, the creators of the home, state the following as the goal of the project:

“Constructing an economically viable mainstream home that will produce more energy than it consumes – allowing for a dramatic reduction in greenhouse emissions and dependency on foreign oil.”

Tracking Solar Array (photo: Neumann Developments)

Two solar arrays are the heart of the property’s electricity generation. A Wattsun solar tracking array in the back yard provides 4,600 kWh of electricity annually, which is dedicated to charging an electric vehicle. Another rooftop photovoltaic setup provides 14,700 kWh yearly, which is much more than the home requires. Surplus power is sold back to the municipal grid for a substantial profit – in July, the home made $408.16 from the local energy utility.

Further energy efficiency comes from the geothermal heating/cooling system in the basement. Glycol fluid circulates through tubing buried below the foundation where the temperature is a year-round 54 degrees. The heat-exchange system provides all necessary summertime cooling, and eases heat production in the winter.

Geothermal Heat Exchange Unit (photo: Neumann Developments)

Energy Star appliances and top-notch insulation round out the home’s energy efficiency. And although the specialized solar and geothermal gear did add a substantial amount to construction expenses, the cost of the upgrades was cut in half by rebates and tax credits.

For more information, visit the Neumann Developments website.

(via Dvice)

Summertime is almost here, but hot weather doesn’t have to mean skyrocketing power bills and nonstop air conditioning. We’ve compiled these tips to help you maximize your summer comfort and energy efficiency.

Remember, It’s Summer

Listen up – your home isn’t an arctic retreat for polar testing, it simply needs to be a comfortable living space. Avoid using your AC when you don’t really need it, and set it at a reasonable temperature when it’s operating. HVAC experts suggest 78 degrees as an ideal level to ensure comfort without unnecessarily wasting power.

Also, don’t underestimate the power of a fan. Whether you use a portable room fan or a ceiling fan, it will consume far less energy than an air conditioner. A fan distributes cool air around a room, and the breeze on your skin can let you stay comfortable while relying less on the AC – or even skipping it altogether.

A portable fan can help reduce or eliminate your AC usage

Make Your AC’s Job Easier

Summer heat is enough of a challenge for an air conditioner – don’t make it work even harder than it has to. Have your unit maintained regularly by a pro to make sure it’s operating at its peak efficiency. And you can do your part too, by regularly cleaning or replacing the air filter. A clean filter means less air resistance for the unit, and better air quality in your home.

Don’t Cool An Empty Room

Even though it seems obvious, this one gets ignored all too often: Turn off the air conditioning when you leave the house. If you absolutely must have a cool home waiting for you when you return, use a timed thermostat instead of running the AC all day. Remember that when you come back, turning the unit to its coldest setting won’t cool your house any faster, so set it at 78 and be patient. Also, while you’re at home, close the doors and vents in unused rooms, and consider using an efficient portable air conditioner that will only cool the living space you’re actually using.

An efficient portable air conditioner can be a good alternative to window units or central AC

Don’t Add Fuel To The Fire

Beware of unnecessary heat sources around the house that compete with your air conditioner. Still using incandescent light bulbs? The reason they use so much power is that only a fraction of the electricity they consume is used for light, while the rest gets wasted in the form of heat (which your air conditioner must then cool down). So that’s another reason to switch to compact fluorescent bulbs, or the even more efficient LED lights. Another common foe of your AC are long, hot showers that raise the surrounding air temperature inside your home, and also add humidity to the air which makes it feel even warmer.

Other appliances can be particularly tough for an AC to work against. Avoid using your dishwasher, oven, and clothes drier at peak heat times of the day, and use settings that minimize their heat output and energy usage (which you’re already doing anyway, right?) For example, disable the air-dry function on your dishwasher, and lower the temperature on your clothes drier – or even better, use a simple clothesline or laundry rack to let your clothes dry in the breeze.

Ironically, refrigerators can be one of the biggest heat sources in the home. Use a thermometer inside the refrigerator and freezer to make sure the temperature stays at the ideal levels, since going colder just wastes electricity and creates more wasted heat in the kitchen. And older models are especially inefficient – do you really need that old fridge you moved down to the basement for extra soda?

Shade Is Your Friend

Shade is nature’s air conditioning, and it doesn’t cost a penny. Low-e windows are great for keeping unnecessary heat out of the house, but a simple window shade will do the job too. On a bigger scale, shade trees can dramatically reduce interior temperatures when planted on the south and west sides of your home. Plus, lawn vegetation has the added advantage of transpiration cooling (the evaporative cooling effect from moisture in the leaves).

Properly placed shade trees can help keep your home substantially cooler (photo: Trint via Flickr)

In addition to keeping direct sunlight out of your windows, try to locate AC units in shaded locations. An air conditioner basking in the sun all day has to work much harder to cool the air that passes through it. Just make sure that any screens or nearby plants don’t interfere with airflow to the unit.

Look Up

In freestanding homes, the roof and attic can be your best friend or your worst enemy when it comes to keeping the heat outside and cutting your energy consumption. Consider roof materials and colors that efficiently reflect heat from the sun’s rays, or even use them to provide solar power. Ensure that your roofline and attic are well insulated, and use an exhaust fan to draw collected heat out of your home.

And If You’re Shopping For A New AC…

It goes without saying that if you’re considering a new air conditioner, it’s worth investing in an energy efficient model. It will use less power, which means less pollution and lower energy bills. The new residential evaporative cooling models that use the same principle as skyscraper cooling towers can be extremely efficient, and they’re especially worth considering for residents of hot, dry climates. And though they may be more expensive initially, many high-efficiency models qualify for tax credits as well as rebates from local utility providers. Energy Star models are available everywhere, and remember that the higher the SEER/EER score, the better. Last, ensure that your model uses a non-flourocarbon refrigerant.

We all have better places to spend our hard-earned money than power bills, and summer is plenty hot already without needless pollution adding to global warming. Being smart about keeping cool in the summertime is a win-win scenario for everybody.

“Low-E” Windows Maximize Buildings’ Energy Efficiency (photo: EWC)

Low-E stands for low emissivity, and these windows are constructed to minimize heat transfer through the glass. Since windows are essentially huge holes in the walls of a building, choosing a low-E window design that’s appropriate for local climate and architecture can greatly increase a structure’s thermal efficiency, while reducing energy use and utility costs.

How does it work? A low-E window uses a microscopically thin layer of metal or metal oxide as a coating on the glass, which prevents heat from being transferred through the window. This coating can either help to keep a building cool in hot weather, or it can prevent heat loss in the cold winter months.

Low-E glass can be customized for different amounts of solar gain, meaning heat from sunlight. For example, a structure in a cold climate would benefit from a window that prevents heat loss, but admits as much heat from sunlight as possible. Low-E glass is typically transparent to visible light, so it shouldn’t be confused with the tinted or mirrored glass commonly seen in commercial buildings.

Low solar gain design for hot climates (photo: EWC)

The performance of a low-E window is usually described as its “U-factor” or “U-value”. Simply put, this is the inverse of the “R-value” that is commonly referred to in describing insulation materials. So, whereas a high R-value (resistance to heat transfer) is a good thing for insulation, the U-value (heat flow) will be a very low number in an energy-efficient window.

Low-E glass is often combined with other design elements to maximize a window’s energy efficiency. Two or more panes of glass create added insulation, and the gaps between panes may be filled with an inert low-conduction gas like argon or krypton. And remember, the installation is just as important as the design of a window. To enjoy the efficiency benefits of low-E windows, the window frames must be properly mounted and sealed to eliminate any drafts or leaks.

(via Efficient Windows Collaborative)

Electric fans are the most efficient cooling devices. Fans use far less power than air conditioners (see our recent review of the most efficient portable fan). But in hot and humid weather, air conditioning is a great relief. Cooling an entire house uses a lot of energy — it’s much more efficient to only cool the areas where you are sleeping or working, by using a portable air conditioner.

The one of most efficient portable air conditioner we seen is the Newair AC-12000E (pictured above). It has an EER of 14.4. An EER (Energy Efficiency Ratio) of 12 or above is considered very efficient. You can read a detailed explanation of EER ratings here. The Newair AC-12000E is available from Amazon for $389.95

The 7000 BTU Haier HPE07XC6 is one of the least expensive portable air conditioners available.

Reviewers say it does a fine job in very small rooms of about 150-square-feet or less. Since most of the condensed water removed from the air is expelled through the main exhaust hose, you don’t have to empty the water-collection cup too often. The only complaint about this AC unit is that it’s a bit loud, one buyer on Amazon says:

This air conditioner is excellent for the heat of living in the valley near Los Angeles. But it gets really loud, especially when changing over from cool to fan mode ( when it reaches the desired temperature). However, it is not much louder than the multiple fans I had to use before, so I would rate this as excellent.

This air conditioner has an EER of 8.2. It measures just 21″ x 17″ x 34″.

Available from Amazon for $353.

These “Vari-Cyclone” ceiling fans from FanWorks are perhaps the most efficient ceiling fans available. The fans utilize what Fanworks calls “Gossamer Wind” blade design technology, which is said to deliver 40% more air flow without any increase in power use. They also run on DC power, which also adds to their efficiency when off-grid power is used.

On the advantages of running under DC power, Fanworks says:

The average AC-powered ceiling fan draws between 0.5 and 1 amp. When an inverter is used to run the AC ceiling fan, you are pulling 5 to 10 amps DC to run the fan. This does not include the power consumed by the inverter to produce the AC power required by the ceiling fan.

The Vari-Cyclone, DC-powered ceiling fan, runs directly from your battery bank, no inverter required, and draws only 0.5 amp @ 12 VDC, making the Vari-Cyclone 10 times more energy efficient than an AC-powered ceiling fan.

Here are some stats:

Power Consumption: (with 3-blade configuration):
At 12 volt: 60 rpm, 7 watts, 2500 cfm.
At 24 volt: 120 rpm, 27 watts, 3400 cfm.

You can see a very in-depth analysis of the performance of these fans here.

Homepage: FanWorks

Available from: Survival Unlimited ($175-$195)

The latest issue of Home Power has an article on how to cool your house down using natural systems (also known as passive cooling). This is a concept that is neglected in most modern house design — forcing home owners to use air conditioning throughout the summer.

The article illustrates the basics of passive cooling quite well: how to choose the right windows, using overhangs and catching breezes.

Be Cool by Home Power (PDF File)

These Endless Breeze fans are powerful,
portable, high volume 12 volt fans with a twelve inch blade that operates
at three speeds. Air movement of up to 1000 CMF (cubic feet per minute)
is a major breakthrough in 12 volt portable fans. Standing
only fourteen inches high on retractable legs and less than three inches
thick it travels and stores easily. It weights under five pounds.

Power Consumption:
Low: 1.18 Amps
Medium: 1.62 Amps
High: 2.58 Amps

Available from: Amazon ($60)
or Pplmotorhomes.com ($62.95)