Save Money by Cooling Your Home with Alternative Air Conditioners

With the recent recession hitting American pocket books nationwide, many consumers are looking more ways to cut costs and reduce spending.  While there's a ton of advice out there on wallet-friendly spending habits, there are a few basic luxuries that we all would rather not do without.  Considering scorching summer months are right around the corner, the biggest area most people are cringing about cutting back on, is their air conditioning costs.

While it may be delightful to switch on the AC to Arctic mode, we're soon brought back down to a heavy daunting reality as soon as the electricity bills rears its hideous head at month's end. 

Is our preference to be cool and comfortable really justified? Do the exorbitant cooling costs balance out our need to be relatively relaxed and level headed?

Probably not.  But here's the thing - we don't have to sacrifice our comfort to save a few pennies.  There are plenty of smart money-saving options that can provide us relief from summer heat and humidity...and from the utility bill!

Traditional AC vs. Alternative AC

So now you're probably wondering, "What is this great alternative to air conditioning?"  Well here's the thing, it's not an alternative to air conditioning, but an alternative to central air conditioners.

Traditional Air Conditioners - Central air conditioners are the traditional cooling units most people think of when they hear of air conditioning.  With a unit placed in your home, and another outside your home, central ACs funnel air throughout your entire home through a system of interconnected vents.

These traditional ACs are considerably invasive if you take into account the amount of space they take up.  Aside from often being loud and obtrusive, they are also quite costly to run.  The cost of running a central AC is heavily expounded when you consider that most people run theirs day and night, months on end throughout summer.

Alternative Air Conditioners - Alternative air conditioners are also referred to as portable or mobile air conditioning units.  These clever cooling units provide the spot-cooling and mobility that traditional air conditioners can't. Alternative air conditioners, also commonly referred to as portable air conditioners, can also be moved from room to room - making them far more efficient coolers.

How Alternative Air Conditioners Can Save You Money

Cheaper to Buy - You can get a high quality portable air conditioner for a few hundred dollars. Compare this with the thousands it costs just to buy a central AC system.  The repair costs are also quite varied.  Whereas warranty (either provided or purchased) is available for every portable AC, central air conditioners require costly maintenance and technicians who charge parts plus labor.  These days, money-conscious families are opting to buy one or two portable ACs rather than running their central systems.

Cheaper to Set up and Maintain - Unlike traditional cooling systems, mobile AC units offer easy installation that doesn't require a costly and difficult process.  The only consideration that portable ACs require is the external hose adjustment.  Even though this hose needs to be vented, this is easily done with the the included window kit.  Portable ACs do not require specialized installation.  These types of AC units are electrical and owners usually delight in how user-friendly and convenient they are. 

Cheaper to Run - One of the reasons traditional central cooling units are so expensive is because there is no way to filter which rooms are cooled.  And this is exactly why portable ACs are increasingly favored among families looking to save money on their electricity bill. 

Individuals and families can choose which room/s they want cooled.  In other words, you're not paying for unnecessary cooling. Providing effective spot cooling, a portable AC can also be rolled to just about wherever you need cooling-relief.  

You can also fairly easily gauge the cost in running a portable AC.  Each air conditioner has an energy efficiency rating that lists how many BTUs (energy units) per hour are used for each watt of power the unit draws.  For room air conditioners, this is called the EER, or the Energy Efficiency Ratio. 

The majority of alternative air conditioning units available today come with special ducting which ensures that any warm air is taken out of the room where the system is situated. This again helps to keep down the cost of cooling the room. 

With alternative air conditioners, you can achieve a level of cost-effective comfort that is impossible with traditional air conditioners.