Upgrade your air conditioner to an Energy Star-plus model
Why This is Green
Air conditioning is a hot topic for a lot of reasons. Residential air conditioners use about 5 percent of all the electricity produced in the U.S. and cost consumers $15 billion every year. Keeping our homes chilled when temperatures go up also has a price where climate change is concerned—approximately 140 million tons of carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere by our annual use of A/C. That’s an average of about 1.37 tons for every home that has one, and an estimated 89 percent of American homes do!
All of this gives energy efficient air conditioning a big role in creating a cooler world. Whether you choose a central system or a window unit, upgrading to today’s high-efficiency technologies can reduce your air conditioning energy consumption by up to 50 percent when combined with taking other actions to keep your home cool.
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How To
The easiest way to put the freeze on your air conditioning bills and environmental impacts—beyond not using an A/C at all—is to switch to a model rated by Energy Star, an EPA program that helps consumers identify the best energy-saving appliances.
Rated products will display an Energy Star label in the showroom that will tell you how much the unit saves and how it compares to others in its class. Buying the greatest savings you can afford will help you and the atmosphere chill out.
