A flexible, efficient, and energy-saving option for cooling your house all summer long is a portable ac, or portable air conditioning, system. The heat and humidity of summer can be absolutely miserable?but so can paying large electric bills for energy that you aren't using. More and more people are turning to portable ac units to keep cool during long, hot summer days because portable ac systems can help them save money and energy while beating the heat.

Portable ac units help save energy because they allow you to cool a specific part of your house. If you have a large house but usually only use a few main rooms, then you probably do not want to pay to air-condition the entire house. Portable ac units give you the flexibility to choose which parts of the house you want to keep cool during the summer. Some rooms are a lot more hot and stuffy. Even during the summer, you may not have to cool other parts of your house. If that is the case, you do not want to pay to cool the entire house just to make one room colder. In this situation, a portable ac would be the best option.

When you go to the local home improvement store to purchase your new portable ac unit, you will notice that the quality and efficiency of each unit is measured by three ratings. These ratings will help you see how energy efficient the portable ac unit you are considering its. Portable ac units in general are very efficient in the use of energy, but it is good to know what the ratings mean, especially if you are looking to save extra money on your electric bill.

The EER (Energy Efficiency Rating) and SEER (Seasonally Adjusted Energy Efficiency Rating) measure the ratio of heat transferred out of the air in your room verses the amount of energy needed to do it. SEER ratings take the outside seasonal environment into consideration, while the EER considers only the inside environment. These ratings show the amount of heat that can be removed by a portable ac from a room using one unit of electrical energy. Most portable ac units come with a EER of 10 and a SEER of 12. You probably don't want to get a portable ac rated lower than this, but luckily, most are normally energy efficient and come with these or higher ratings. Highly-rated portable ac units may cost more, but they will save more energy and money in the long run.

Another rating you should look for if you are concerned about energy efficiency is an Energy Star rating. Energy Star ratings were created by the United States' Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Department of Energy. If you find a portable ac unit that is labeled with an Energy Star rating, this means that the portable ac unit uses about ten percent less energy than comparable ac units.

If saving energy and conserving the environment is important to you, then the best air conditioning option for you is a portable ac. Portable ac units keep you cool all summer while conserving energy.

Portable Air Conditioners