Ceiling fans use much less energy to run than air conditioners, so it would seem obvious that ceiling fans save energy. But in most parts of the country, fans don’t provide enough cooling to replace air conditioners. So the question is really: do ceiling fans save energy when used with air conditioning?
Read on to find out if you can use ceiling fans to reduce energy usage and keep you cooler.
How do ceiling fans keep you cool?
To get an idea of how ceiling fans save energy, it’s important to understand how ceiling fans work. You may have heard that fans don’t cool rooms, they cool people. Fans work for the same reason why wind feels cold; it’s called the windchill effect.
Moving air makes you feel cooler because it aids your body’s natural cooling process by helping moisture evaporate from your skin. A ceiling fan does not actually lower the temperature in a room. This is why you should not leave a fan on in an unoccupied room – it has no effect and would waste energy.
You may have heard that ceiling fans add heat to a room. That’s technically true: fans work by powering a motor, which gives off heat. But a ceiling fan has a small motor, and the amount of heat it adds to a room is negligible. The cooling windchill effect more than compensates for that small amount of heat.
A ceiling fan’s job is to cool people, and it does that well at moderate temperatures. A ceiling fan is not an adequate replacement for air conditioning in hotter climates. But you can use them together to create better cooling conditions and save energy.
How to use ceiling fans to save energy in summer & winter
Ceiling fans don’t save energy if you run them without changing your AC usage. Ceiling fans save energy when they allow you to reduce your use of air conditioning (especially if you have an old system that’s an energy hog).
The windchill effect makes you feel a few degrees colder, so if you have the fan on, you can turn your thermostat up by four degrees, and feel just as cool.
Obviously you won’t save as much energy as simply turning the thermostat up and forgoing the fan, but you can get a slight energy savings and comparable comfort level by combining these methods.
AC units cost an average of 36 cents an hour to run, compared to a ceiling fan’s 1 cent per hour. So combining these cooling methods is the best way to save a bit of money on your energy bill.
You can use this same strategy in winter to get the most out of your heating as well. You just need to switch the direction of the fan, from counterclockwise in the summer to clockwise in the winter. Most fans have a switch on the base that changes the direction of the motor. Heat rises, so switching the fan direction will create a downdraft in winter, allowing warm air near the ceiling to circulate throughout the room. That can allow you to turn the thermostat down a few degrees and still be comfortable.
Tips for choosing a ceiling fan
If you are looking to install ceiling fans, choosing the right one and having it installed properly will help make the most of these savings. When you’re shopping for a new fan, look for models with the highest energy efficiency rating.
Fans with bigger blades move more air around, and can increase the cooling effect. Make sure to get a fan properly sized for the room you have.
Fan blades should be a foot from the ceiling and not less than 7 feet from the floor.
So, do ceiling fans save money on energy bills?
So when you look at all the facts, do ceiling fans save energy? Besides an environmental interest, usually what we’re really asking when we look at that question is: do ceiling fans save money?
Here’s what we know: there are ways to use ceiling fans and AC systems together to improve cooling conditions. And when you use ceiling fans along with a decreased use of air conditioning and/or heating, it can help improve your energy efficiency and reduce your energy bills.
Another proven way to save on energy bills
If you’re looking to reduce your energy consumption, consider having your air conditioning system regularly maintained by professionals. Doing that once or twice a year keeps your system operating as efficiently as possible. That means it runs less to achieve the same set temperature, so it uses less energy.
Chances are, you’ll see a bigger difference in your energy bills with regular maintenance than you will from using ceiling fans in your space.
If you’re in the NYC metro area, we’re happy to explain how that works and get you started.
