Let’s face it, residential air conditioning systems (commonly referred to as AC) are simply essential in most places during the long summer months. Without a properly functioning AC system, we’d be seriously uncomfortable – and some of us (particularly the most susceptible, like the elderly and the very young) would even face health repercussions such as heat stroke. In fact, more than half of all homes, more than sixty percent of all homes, have air conditioning (AC) systems in the United States alone – a considerable increase from just around two decades ago, in the early nineties, when less than seventy percent of all homes and residential buildings had AC units.
Air conditioning services are absolutely essential to stay cool in summer in many cases, as discussed just above, but it’s also true that they’re expensive. A residential cooling system can cost a home owner (or even a renter) as much as nearly three percent of their yearly income. This three percent of a yearly income totals around two thousand dollars and goes straight to energy bills throughout the year for the typical family or household in the United States. In fact, air conditioning units throughout the entire country use more than ten billion dollars worth of power – five percent of all the electricity produced in the United States. The cost of an in window AC unit has risen considerably as well. A in unit AC window was estimated to cost less than four hundred dollars in the 1940’s. Now, the cost has risen to as much as three thousand and five hundred dollars for the installation of one AC unit – a considerable amount of money for the vast majority of American families.
Fortunately, there are small things the average home owner or renter in the United States can do to begin to reduce these costs. First, it’s important that you regularly provide maintenance and servicing to your AC unit, as an air conditioning unit that has not been provided will regular service is likely to be far less efficient and may even break down. Many HVAC companies will provide the option to sign up for a servicing contract, where employees of the company will come on a regular basis to clean your air conditioning unit and replace your air filter, if necessary. These services tend to be relatively inexpensive and easy to afford for the average home owner or renter. As the average air conditioning unit can last for as long as fifteen years if regularly cleaned and cared for, it is important to note that this is a great way to save money in the long run.
Though regularly servicing your air conditioning unit is probably the most feasible cost saving option for most home owners and renters, buying a high efficiency air conditioning unit can also help to significantly reduce your energy costs every month (and, of course, on a yearly basis). High efficiency air conditioning machines are become more and more popular – not only because they save money, but because they help to reduce the overall environmental footprint of the average home owner and renter.
Air conditioning units are important to our comfort during the long (and gruelingly hot) summer months. But air conditioning systems can be too expensive – and can take as much as a forty percent chunk out of the common home owner’s energy bill. But there are steps that the average home owner can take, from switching to a high efficiency air conditioning system to simply making sure that their existing air conditioning unit is regularly serviced.