How Portland Residents Can Decrease Air Conditioning Bill

Last summer seems unbearable at times. We had several weeks over temperatures over 100 degrees. For a short period Portland and Vancouver, Wa seemed like the southwest.

I thought I was dreaming because for a while it felt as though I was living in the desert.

In the spirit of planning for a very hot summer and trying to save money I thought it best to over some key points which will help local homeowners save money on their electricity bills. In the winter we spend a massive amount of money heating our homes. The spring gives us a break. Lets find some ways, now, so that we do not have to spend an equally large amount cooling our homes.

Attic Improvements

Attics, especially well ventilated ones, hold a lot of heat (heat rises) and sits like a cloud over our homes. This is an excellent thing in the winter but dreadful in the summer.

It would be nice if there was a window or vent installed in your attic. If there is one, open it. If one does not exist maybe you can install one. You want to make some sort of pathway for the hot air to be able to escape but also one you can close when winter time comes and you actually want it to hold heat.

Lower That Thermostat Setting

You do not need the thermostat set low in the evenings. You can reduce it by ten degrees. The sun is not outside beating down on you and your home so really low setting is just a waste. At about six o'clock when the sun starts to go down is when you can start to lower the settings.

Additionally, you and your household are not doing a lot of physical activity and you will not need to "cool off" like you would when you first come back from work or come inside from doing work or playing sports.

Let a Breeze Pass Through

Let some wind pass through your house. Even on a hot day in the Portland-Vancouver, Wa area several nice cool breezes will come off from the ocean and it would be nice if your house was open to receive them.

When your home is totally closed then all the hot air is trapped and just sits in the house. Open your doors and windows. Let some of that hot air get out and get replaced by cooler air coming in. If it lowers the temperature of your home by a little bit that is less that your air conditioning unit has to work. Doing this every single day can really add up.

Change Air Cleaner

Like an automobile your air conditioning unit has an air filter. When the AC is sucking air to cool it and send it into your house it passes by this little device which cleans it off any debris.

When it is clogged your system has to work twice as hard to pull air. This uses up more electricity and makes your utility bills higher.

Get into a habit of changing the air conditioner's air filter every spring even if it is clean. They are not expensive and you want to make sure there are no obstructions in the way of your device being able to suck clean air from the outside

Start Today

Being conscious on these four things we put you in a really good position to save money. None of these four items take a lot of time to implement. Each one may take an hour. Being energy conscious is just not the right thing to do but saves us money as well.

You can also call a professional Vancouver Wa air conditioning contractor to come out and inspect your home for any potential "energy hogs" or any other items that could be costing you money without you knowing it.

We are such as wasteful country. People in the Northwest though (Portland, Vancouver Wa, Seattle) are very environment friendly people and we will usually do anything to be more "green."

Consuming less energy good for everyone and the time to take action is now.