Air conditioners cool and condition the room temperature according to the requirements of the occupants. In the summer season, the air conditioner dehumidifies and cools the room air as per cooling demands of the residents. But this process consumes a lot of electricity and it is important to properly size the air conditioning system to achieve better efficiency. If the system is undersized it will not cool the home to required levels and on other hand if the air conditioner is oversized it will cycle on and off quickly and not provide continuous comfort. In both cases the system will cause discomfort to occupants, draw more electricity and increase maintenance costs.

The aim should be conserve more energy by utilizing the air conditioner efficiently. To cut the air conditioning costs, few steps can be taken towards improving home insulation. The priority is to seal any duct leakage and thereby cut down drastically the cooling losses via cracks and gaps in the system. A duct leakage saps considerable amount of energy from the air conditioner. It also induces more wear and tear by making it run for longer hours, to maintain the desired cooling level. This means more energy consumption and rise in electricity cost. To get rid of this problem, all the leakages in the cooling system should be properly identified and plugged. This can be done properly by taking help of a home energy audit expert, who will pinpoint the leakages, which can be sealed properly by an air conditioning technician.

There are a few other measures that residents can do in order to improve cooling efficiency and work towards living in an energy efficient home. Installing better insulation in the attic, walls and floors can decrease the need for cooling.. Installing a cool roof top and using heat reflective paints or foils underneath the roof (also known as radiant barriers) that reflect back sunlight, instead of absorbing it, help to reduce heat gain. This means, lesser load on the air conditioner. Inefficient appliances that increase the cooling load by heating up the house, such as an old refrigerator, should be replaced with energy efficient ones, which have energystar ratings. In other words by improving home insulation along with other measures, the occupants can easily replace their bigger air conditioner with a smaller one that provides the same cooling comfort at reduced cost. That means more savings, which can be well spent on other requirements of daily life. The benefits of an energy efficient home last forever.