Green Summer Preparation Tips and Season...

Summer is rapidly approaching, it is time to clean up your place. Getting ready for summer can generate a lot of waste. The warmer weather opens up the opportunity to get outside more often as well as requires us to cool down the home.

EWG has a nice list of tips to help you clean your house the green or more eco-friendly way.

• When traveling on vacation, try to carpool, take public transportation, or walk as much as possible
• Check the exterior of your home and repair any cracked or flaking paint,. Time to apply caulk, weatherstrip and paint.
• Check and clean gutters, downspouts again
• Remove and clean storm windows (if you have them)
• It is time to work on your garden, sprinkler system, and rejuvenate your lawn
• Check your water heater for leaks and sediment, turn down its temperature if possible
• Check your garden’s irrigation system and outdoor taps
• Look for termites, ants, and other pests
• The heater will get a rest, so it’s time to check and clean your air conditioner and its filters. Have a HVAC professional do seasonal maintenance
• Check your roof and patch or replace any damaged areas. This is the time to fix leaks
• Check and clean chimney if necessary
• Consider a solar electric system and/or battery backup
• If you live in a windy area, consider a wind turbine
• If you your car needs replacement, consider purchasing a hybrid or all electric car

Air Conditioner Energy Savings

Housing accounts for 20% of total US energy use with heating and cooling consuming a whopping 44% of residential energy use. Air conditioning accounts for nearly 60% of Americans’ electricity bill during the summer. The time is now to help reduce your cooling costs.

Optimizing your home

Do everything you can to prevent extra heat from being generated in your house.

• Close the blinds or curtains
• Use heat generating appliances like the stove, washer, and dryer at night
• Switch to CFL light bulbs
• Plant deciduous trees with high spreading crown or vine on trellis towards the South of the house to achieve summer shading
• Roof eave or awnings help provide shade
• Paint your roof a light color to reflect the sun
• Insulate your attic and eliminate any leaks in duct work
• Shade your air conditioner compressor so that it will be more efficient
• Install insulated windows. Consider heavy mesh solar screens.
• Consider a ceiling fan that allows you to lower AC temperatures
• Install a whole house fan, if temperatures fall at night

Optimize your air conditioning

Air conditioners use a ton of energy and cost a bundle to operate. You can save a ton of money by optimizing its usage. Easily save $200 a year. The average household will spend over $1100 staying cool during the summer.  This cost just keeps going straight up.  Lower your cooling costs by up to 10% by raising air conditioners settings 6 degrees higher when you set your thermostat between 70 and 85.

If you do not have a programmable thermostat, install one right away.   Also keep your air conditioner in tune. Clean the air conditioner’s filters monthly. Make sure nothing is blocking the unit, inside or outside. Close window coverings to prevent the sun from warming rooms.

We realized that we were not optimally using setting on our thermostat when we saw some tips that result in lower energy use. We would set the air conditioner thermostat to the desired temperature of 78 degrees when it was hot outside. Many people will prefer 72 degrees, but we are trying to save energy.  You need to play with the thermostat, adjust it slowly upwards, and figure out what you can bear.

If you have zones, set zones which are not occupied to higher temperatures.  Set it to raise temperatures at night and as temperatures start falling.

Buying a new air conditioner

• The newest are Inverter Air Conditioners with variable speed compressors. Both effective and energy-efficient. These are the future. It converts AC power from your house to DC power and then inverts it back to AC. During this last step, chips can optimize the power’s voltage and frequency. Save up to 30% plus less noise. Modern inverter ACs use efficient refrigerants such as R32 which provides better cooling capacity and also emits less harmful emissions to the environment.
• Consider a new energy-efficient unit if your your conditioner is at least 10 years old. A new one may save you 20% to 40% off your bills
• If you need to buy a new unit, consider one with a high Energy Efficiency ratio (EER) of 10.7 or higher and which meet Energy Star requirements. Look for 13 or more for central air conditioners
• Apply for any Federal tax credit or utility company rebates if they are available

Maintain your air conditioner

• Inspect, clean or change the system’s air filters once a month to maximize efficiency and keep costs down.
• Have your air-conditioner tuneup once a year.

Life hacker has some tips on air conditioning, including putting a bowl of cold water with lots of ice in front of a fan.

For Winter read: Optimizing Setting a Thermostat for Winter and Be sure to read Ways to Save Energy, Money on your Power bill

Some other useful tips include:

Using cleaners that do not have any of these chemicals: 2-butoxyethanol, Alkylphenol ethoxylates, Dye, Ethanolamines, fragrance, pine or citrus oil, Quaternary ammonium compounds.

Learn how to check on the products and ingredients by reading MSDS documents.

Baking soda and water works well as a substitute for acidic toilet-bowl cleaner and oven cleaners.

These tips are also incorporated in their healthy home checklist.

Recycle old unused electronics and computers responsibly and perhaps get some money back.

Donate or give away unneeded items.

Do you have any other summer prep tips? Please comment below

Related

Posted on May 15th, 2025
If you enjoyed this post, be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed.