Use a Fan in Summer

Benefits
Environmental Benefit: ★★★☆☆
The energy used by a fan to cool you is less than that used by a home A/C unit - so you're saving energy.

Money Saved: ★★★☆☆
As usual, when you save energy you are also saving money! Of course, this assumes that you turn your thermostat up to a higher setting since the fan is making you feel cooler.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★☆☆☆☆
I couldn't think of any benefits other than saving a little cash! Unless you like watching fans go round and round . . .

What We're Doing
As is typical in Southern home construction these days, we've got a ceiling fan in nearly every room. By using these in the summer, we have cooling breezes in our home that enable us to set the thermostat several degrees higher than would otherwise be comfortable. Note that indoor fans don't actually cool the air, they just make it feel cooler because moving air can carry heat away from your skin faster. So you should turn them off when not in a room (unless using them to bring warm air down in the winter)!

Another way that fans can be used to heat or cool is to transfer air from outside to inside when it is at a "better" temperature. We have a monitor that shows the outside temperature and humidity. In the summer, if it cools off enough in the evening (and isn't too humid), then we'll place a window box fan in a downstairs window and open several other windows across the house and upstairs. This rapidly cools the house and is much more efficient than air conditioning! Your home starts the next morning nice and cool, and the A/C may not have to kick in until after noon! I've frequently been disappointed to hear our neighbor's A/C running on a cool evening after a warm summer day. The walls of their house and attic are still hot, so the A/C needs to keep operating well into the night. A window fan could do the same job with 10% of the energy.

I do go around and close at least all the lower-story windows before going to bed - would love to leave them open but have to be security-minded! I have to check them all as I never know which ones Shannon may have opened! Other windows left partly open can be protected with window slide locks that keep them from opening further - a cheap little gadget available at most home stores.

A Little Humor
Q. Why did the blonde die in a helicopter crash?
A. She got cold and turned off the fan.