8 Ways to Stay Cool this Summer

Since I was a tiny tot, I remember that the summer was the perfect time of the year for my mother to go shopping. She easily justified walking around in the mall with her insistence that she was receiving "free A/C." Growing up, I never understood what she was talking about. I thought it was another strange immigrant saying. How much does air conditioning really cost anyway?

As it turns out, the air conditioning unit has a bigger impact on your budget than you might have expected. Most households in our country rely on 3 major sources of energy: natural gas, fuel oil, and electricity. 
However, the US households are fast outpacing commercial and industry sectors in electricity consumption. According to the Department of Energy, the total electricity consumed by US households in 2001 totaled 1,140 billion kWh. The most significant end uses were central air-conditioning and refrigerators, each of which accounted for about 14 percent of the U.S. total.

It's expensive to power all those air conditioners. Just ask the US Military; they are paying $20.2 billion to power all the air conditioners used by troops in Iraq and Afghanistan each year.