Air Conditioning - How to Reduce Energy Consumption

AIR-CONDITIONING

During a hot summer air conditioning costs can become a significant part of a company's electricity bill. The following steps will help keep this down or even eliminate the need for this.

Reduce solar gain

Glass in windows allows short wavelength radiation from the sun into a room but block long wave radiation from going out again. This is how a greenhouse works. This solar gain can be easily reduced by using appropriate film on the inside of the windows. This allows light in but reduces the amount of heat entering in through the glass.

Get rid of inefficient appliances

Only 5% of the energy going into an incandescent light bulb is turned into light. The rest is wasted as heat. Replace these with fluorescent tube lights or compact fluorescents wherever possible.

Flat screen monitors produce less heat compared to the older CRT screens used on PCs. Switch off unused electronic appliances when they are not in use.

Run lighting at lower voltage

Even compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) are only 20% efficient. This means that 80% of the energy going into a CFL is turned into heat. In the UK, we run lights at 245V which generates even more heat. If the voltage is reduced to say 220V, the light output will only drop by 10% but the wasted heat can drop by up to 30%. This means that the CFLs are running more efficiently at the lower voltages.

Improve air flow

A well placed ventilation fan can get rid of the need for air-conditioning. For example, in a warehouse a fan in the ceiling will suck air through the building producing a draft in rooms where windows are open as it pulls cooler, outdoor air inside. Ceiling fans make people feel cooler by producing a "wind-chill" effect.

Fans take much less power than air-conditioning.

Summary

This article gives a number of tips on how to reduce energy consumption in air-conditioning systems.