When you’re managing a household, every cent counts. Control of your energy costs is a great way to manage your home budget while keeping your family cool. Still, it can be challenging to figure out what the impact of even one-degree change could have on your bottom line. 

That’s why we’ve done the math for you to figure out how much 1 degree of AC really costs, plus some savvy tips on how to keep your house crips without relying on your air conditioner.

So, How Much Does 1 Degree of AC Really Cost? 

While Minnesota is known for its winters, if you are a local, you know that summers can be pretty hot and humid around here. If you’re cool but you could be cooler, may be tempted to turn the AC down another degree or two. But at what cost? 

The cost of 1 degree of AC is $2.85. 

How did we come up with that number? We started with what the experts say: each degree adds 3% to your cooling costs. Then, we took the average cost of cooling a home in Minnesota, which is about $95 per summer. With those numbers, we calculated that it costs about $2.85 to lower your temperature by one degree over the course of a summer. 

AC Alternatives

AC costs can rise over time, especially when the summer heat gets brutal. It can be tempting to keep ticking down the temperature on your air conditioner. To help you save money—and wear on your AC unit—here are a few additional ways to cool your home without relying so much on your AC.

Throw Down Some Shade

No, we aren’t talking about getting sassy with your friends and family! In this case, we literally mean pulling your blinds down. This blocks the heat of the sun from coming into your home, keeping rooms cooler by avoiding an oven-like effect from all that sunshine. 

Avoid Unnecessary Heat

Try to avoid using appliances in the home that cause a lot of heat. For example, using your oven in the summertime can cause an already warm house to go into the hot zone. The same goes for bathroom appliances like hair dryers. When you can, skip using these heat makers to keep your home cool.

Use Trees

Investing in foliage outside your home can help you control the temperature inside your home. Planting trees around your house, especially near windows, creates a natural sunblock, providing shade from the sun’s rays. And we all know things are always cooler in the shade!

Keep Doors Closed

If your house is in the process of cooling or is already where you want it, the last thing you want to do is let any of that cool air out. Keep your doors—and windows, for that matter—closed as much as possible. Even if only cracked open, it will let valuable cold air seep out of your house and make it much harder to keep the temperature down. And we don’t just mean doors to the outside: it’s much easier to cool a single room than it is to cool a whole house, so keeping doors between rooms closed can also keep things cooler longer. 

Check Your Fans

You may not know this, but the direction your fan turns matters! In the summer, you want your fan to turn counterclockwise so it creates a downdraft. This will provide a breeze effect in the room that cools you naturally. If you run it clockwise, it will create an updraft, circulating the air but not creating a cooling breeze.

The Coolest Professionals

If you’ve tried all of the above and still need more guidance, check out our tips on how to reduce your air conditioning costs. 

And when you just have to have the power of AC, make sure you have an AC that works properly. A well-tuned, efficient AC is also a key part of saving money on air conditioning costs. To ensure everything is in order, schedule AC maintenance with one of our experts today. Call us to make an appointment!