Trying to Go Green

In most cases, you'll use more energy trying to cool down a warm home than you will maintaining a constant temperature.

Hi N.!

Glad to hear that you care! I try to stand as much as I can without the air, use attic fan at night and regular fans during the day, Y set an inflatable pool outside for the kids so when they come in wet they don't feel hot, I have tried everything to save on air, for both reasons, the environment and the pocket!
Attic fan helps so much! Thermostats not so much, I found out that when I turn the air on and off, I spend more, that is why I try to go without it as much as possible, then when I turn it on, I keep it on with a steady flow but low most of the time, sometimes I set it to fan only to keep the fan running, it helps keep the house cool without getting it cooler. I do not open windows when I have the air on and don't turn it off untill it is ok to be without it again, usually about a month and a half. Then, windows and attic fan again.
The thing that I didn't know here is that the most energy is wasted to get the humidity of the air in the house, that is why when you open a window and turn the air off, you get humidity in the house that cost too much to bring down when you turn the air on again, my husband is an engineer and explained me that because I was opening and closing windows depending on how the weather was but I was spending a lot! Now mi bill is smaller just because I try not to get humidity in the house while the air is on.
Hope it helps, you might want to check my group about green,
http://www.lilaguide.com/groups/ReduceRecycleReuse
Welcome to the care land!:)
Mariana Abadie
www.MaiaCreations.ecrater.com

why not open the windows in the morning? can't get any more green than that, right! especially now, where the weather is so close to desired room temperature.

I know this probably goes against anything you'll read about going green but we found that our programmable thermostat was actually using more energy. Before I left work to stay at home with our son, we would set the temperature while we were away at work to be warmer in summer and cooler in winter so the air / furnace weren't running so much while we were away. Then when we'd get home they'd be working overtime to catch up and our bedroom would still be uncomfortable at bedtime in extreme weather. So when I quit working to stay at home and we kept the temperature more stable during the day our utility bills went DOWN by about 10-20%. Our budget bills for electric and gas were adjusted to reflect less use. We were very surprised!!! So I know it goes against anything you'll read about going green but apparently keeping the house a consistent temperature throughout the day uses less energy than not. I hope this helps!

Hi N.,
I'm not 100% sure on how those things work. I do know though that if you're trying to go green all the way I work for a company that, they've been producing green products before anyone was really talking about it. If you'd like to check them out as a customer or possibly get involved in the business side of it then check out my site at: http://J..freedomunitedteam.com
I hope you have some luck with learning the answers to your questions!

Hi N.,

Have you thought about getting a programmable thermostat? You can get them at Lowe's or Home Depot, probably even Wal-Mart, that way you can program it to come on right before you get up to cool off the stagnant air.
I sleep with the fan on in my room, it doesn't actually cool down the air temperature in the room, but it keeps it circulating so while you are in the room, you feel the difference.

JMO,
J.

First of all, kudos to you. So many people don't think of the environment when they use their AC or other electrical items in their house. I don't know about the fan on the AC but we have a whole house attic fan. The attic fan will move that stagnant air in 10 seconds. This won't work on really hot humid days but is perfect right now. It pulls the cool air from outside in and pushes out the warm stagnant air. You can get them at Lowes for $200 or so. If your husband is handy he could install it. Also, I know KCPL has a energy saving program and will come install a programmable thermostat for free. Good luck!!

If you run your airconditioner, you would be using electricity, defeating your purpose of going green. Are you in a location where opening your windows is an option? This is what we do. Really helps to cut down on electric bills.

Best Wishes,

J. H.

Great question. It seems that there a lot of simple measures that we don't really know which is better to do. As far as I understand, a fan does way more (when you're in the room) on less electricity. We use the ac all the time, we all have terrible allergies and if we were to open windows, especially at night my husband can't hardly breath, I often end up with a sinus infection, and the kids wake up all night long. There seems to be a discrepancy about running the ac, but what we do is keep it as warm as we can, setting it different for different times of the day, but not drastically different, and always run the fan. Anyway, I really try to be green, doing all sorts of things from cloth diapers and no lawn chemicals to shutting down the computer and putting only dirty things in the wash, but this is one area that in our family we just need some amount of ac and fan.

Thanks for helping.

K.

Fans use way less electricity than air conditioners. And we keep the windows open just a little at night. That seems to keep the air circulating enough that there is no "stale" air in the morning. (plus, we sleep better, not sure why but there you have it.)

Well it's certainly up to you. I do a lot of "green" things in my life. But saving money on the air conditioning is not one of them. I just can't stand to be in a house full of hot and grumpy kids. We go outside and get hot and sweaty so inside is our haven. I also HATE stail air. We do the fans and the air condition to the point that sometimes we get a little chilly in the house. But hey, now I have a good excuse! LOL. I am keeping seahorses and they have to have it cool.

Suzi

If you really want to go "green". Open your windows and turn it off.

Hi N.,

I don't know if you are in the Kansas City Area. Kansas City Power & Light is installing for free the Honeywell Thermosat.

The come & install and if you don't like it they come back and get it with no cost to you. I had mine install about 30 days ago it is great. Here is the link:
http://www.kcpl.com/residential/acc.html
I was also wondering have you gone green with your consumable products. I would love to share with you what products I am using. go to www.eco-safehome.net
If you like to get more information just feel out the contact sheet.

Thanks,

Pam