When it comes to the spring, I’m always thinking ahead to prepare for summer.
Of course, the spring is amazing this far south.
It seems like just about everything is blooming or about to be in our extended spring. But before the greening and flowering to come, I’m already thinking about ways to save more on air conditioning. We’ve lived here now for more than a decade so I’m pretty accustomed to the levels of heat and humidity that come with this region. Normally, the temperatures are such that I hear air conditioners turning on by March. It’s understandable because some folks just can’t take the heat at all. But if you can’t get used to this sort of heat and humidity at some level, all you do is stay inside the air conditioning. That seems like just a waste of life to me. So my family and I tend to do without air conditioning as long as we can to sort of get more accustomed to the rising temperatures. But this year, I’m adding a new tool in order to have more consistent utility savings over the summer. A big factor in saving money on air conditioning costs is stopping direct sunlight heating. I haven’t been as consistent as I need to be about that over the years with pulling the shades each day. But that all changes this year as I have some solar shades that will actually sync with the smart thermostat. So there won’t be any more days where I forget to pull the shades and my heat pump has to work that much harder.