How A lot Power Does an Air Conditioner Use?

There are nonetheless just a few weeks of summer season left, which suggests we’ll should battle towards the warmth a little bit longer. It additionally means larger electrical payments. It occurs yearly: Summer season climate begins, the AC kicks on and your electrical invoice shoots up. As it’s possible you’ll know, your air conditioner can add fairly a bit to your property’s vitality use. 

How a lot vitality your AC makes use of relies upon quite a bit on the local weather in your space, however components like the sort and age of your air conditioner, the vitality effectivity of your property and your most popular temperature can all have an effect on your electrical invoice in the course of the scorching summer season months. 

There are just a few alternative ways to inform — or a minimum of estimate — how a lot vitality an air conditioner makes use of. You may as well make modifications starting from small changes to large-scale initiatives to cut back your air conditioner use, maintain your property comfy and reduce these excessive vitality payments. 

How a lot electrical energy does a typical air conditioner use?

Air-con is a good portion of annual vitality use in American properties. In line with the US Power Info Administration knowledge, air con accounted for 19% of the vitality use in US properties in 2020 — a whopping 254 billion kilowatt-hours. The EIA additionally discovered that in 2022, nearly 90% of American households used air con, and two-thirds of households used a central air con unit like a compressor or warmth pump. 

A typical central air con unit makes use of someplace between 3,000 and three,500 watts, whereas window models vary from round 1,000 to 1,500 watts. It is essential to notice that as a result of an air conditioner’s efficiency could be affected by so many variables that your AC’s vitality use and price to run may fluctuate considerably. 

“It is dependent upon the dimensions of the home, the wattage and the BTUs,” stated Eric Goranson, a Seattle-based designer and residential renovation professional who hosts Across the Home, a podcast and nationally syndicated radio present. “However the common month-to-month value for most individuals is wherever from $70 to $144 a month in the summertime.”

The kind of cooling system in your house may also have an effect on vitality use, however not as a lot as you would possibly assume. Central HVAC techniques with warmth pumps use a comparable quantity of vitality as a standard air conditioner, Goranson stated. The vitality and price financial savings of a warmth pump are typically extra important with winter heating. 

In line with the US Environmental Safety Company, a central air con unit in a typical American dwelling consumes 2,500 kilowatt-hours of vitality every year. With a mean value of $0.175 per kilowatt-hour of electrical energy in Could 2024, in line with the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, operating the air conditioner provides a mean of $437.50 to People’ utility payments every year.   

How one can decide how a lot vitality my air conditioner makes use of

If you wish to pinpoint how a lot vitality your air conditioner makes use of, there are just a few methods you’ll be able to go about it. One is to collect some fundamental details about your property and home equipment and calculate a ballpark quantity your self. 

Your electrical utility may additionally present some details about your vitality utilization, both in your month-to-month invoice or on their web site. Along with the change in utilization over time, you might be able to see a breakdown of various kinds of home equipment or techniques in your house and the way a lot vitality they’re utilizing for every pay interval. 

Nevertheless, Goranson notes, your utility’s utilization breakdown will not be based mostly solely on particular knowledge out of your family however from dwelling monitoring techniques of different clients in your space and previous utilization in your house. To get personalised, prompt utilization knowledge, he suggests putting in a dwelling vitality monitor. Units made by manufacturers like Sense, Wiser Power and Curb can provide you real-time details about which electrical home equipment and gadgets add probably the most to your invoice.

“I’ve a product known as Sense that hooks into {the electrical} panel and displays that system,” he stated. “It makes use of AI know-how to know, say, an AC unit from a curling iron. Then you’ll be able to have a look at the app and know precisely what is going on on together with your vitality use.” 

What impacts an air conditioner’s vitality use?

In the case of particular person air con models, vitality use ranges broadly. The dimensions, age and kind of unit, the temperature exterior and your required temperature within the dwelling, amongst different components, will all have an effect on how a lot vitality your air conditioner makes use of to chill your area. 

Protecting your AC unit in fine condition additionally makes a giant distinction. Cleansing or changing filters, cleansing coils, straightening fins and unclogging channels can enhance an air conditioner’s airflow, vitality effectivity and total efficiency. It is a good suggestion to get your HVAC system serviced yearly to carry out crucial upkeep and forestall small points from turning into larger efficiency issues down the highway. 

The set temperature in your thermostat may even decide how arduous the unit has to work to chill your area. As a result of an air conditioner can solely cool your property down to fifteen to twenty levels Fahrenheit under the temperature exterior, blasting the AC at a a lot decrease temperature in hopes of cooling the area quicker can truly waste vitality and price you extra. 

How one can scale back your air con prices

Among the best methods to chop down on air con use is to chill your property naturally when attainable. If you happen to’re in a area the place summer season means cool mornings and scorching days, you’ll be able to open home windows within the morning to decrease the temperature inside. When the temperature begins to creep up, shut your home windows, shut the blinds and switch in your AC — which will not should work as arduous to maintain your property comfy.

One other is to guard your home in the course of the hottest elements of the day with shade — whether or not by planting timber, putting in awnings or closing the drapes or blinds. Even fundamental window coverings might help insulate your property from the solar’s warmth, however energy-efficient window remedies like window movies and mobile shades can have extra of an affect. Search for gadgets rated by the Attachment Power Score Council, or AERC. 

One other method is to bump up the set level of your thermostat to attain optimum effectivity. The US Division of Power recommends setting your thermostat between 74 and 78 levels Fahrenheit in the course of the day in summer season to maintain your area cool and scale back humidity whereas permitting your air conditioner to function most effectively. The really useful temperature at evening is 82 and 85 F once you’re away from the home. 

Protecting your air conditioner clear and maintained will prevent cash in the long term. 

“You really want to remain on upkeep,” stated Goranson. “Having someone come out yearly and repair your unit and clear it out makes a giant distinction. Your exterior compressor unit on the market can get filled with grime and dirt within the coils, which makes it lose that effectivity. Then cooling your property is dearer, as a result of it has to work more durable.”

But when your system is getting on in years — most air conditioners have a lifespan of 15 to twenty years — it could be time to think about an improve. Whether or not you are fascinated with putting in a brand new air conditioner or getting a warmth pump, a brand new, extra environment friendly system may very well be well worth the funding. Inflation Discount Act tax incentives may additionally assist offset the associated fee.

“If you happen to’ve received a 20-year-old system, it is most likely a single-stage system. When it kicks on, it is one hundred percent, sort of how window air conditioners work,” Goranson stated. “Newer, extra environment friendly fashions have variable pace compressors, that means they will run at decrease speeds to regulate the temperature and never use all that vitality.”