AILSA CHANG, HOST:
High temperatures have swept through much of the U.S. this summer already. And when it's this hot, some turn to supercooling their homes. NPR's Ayana Archie explains.
AYANA ARCHIE, BYLINE: Supercooling calls for significantly lowering your home's temperature during off-peak hours and letting the cool air get you through peak hours. That's when the sun is highest and energy is more expensive to produce. But does it work? Yes, no or maybe - depending on who you ask. Daniel Barber is a professor of architecture at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. He has been researching ways to make people less reliant on air conditioning systems. He said supercooling could be a good place to start, with some caveats.
DANIEL BARBER: Running an air conditioner at 60 degrees is going to be pretty energy-intensive and also produce a lot of HFCs, so there's serious costs associated.
ARCHIE: HFCs refer to hydroflurocarbons, a type of greenhouse gas. But Barber said supercooling could be effective if you take good care of your air conditioning system and keep the windows and curtains closed. Opinions are split among power companies. Energy company Arizona Public Service generally agrees. It suggests customers who want to lower their bills drop their thermostat's temperature in the morning, raise it during peak hours from 4 to 7 p.m., and after that, set it how you like. Georgia Power encourages its customers to use less energy from 2 to 7 p.m. But it said a home would need to be extremely efficient for supercooling to work. It also noted there isn't a concrete range of temperatures that will make the method most effective. It would depend on things such as the home size, the outside temperature and residents' comfort level. If nothing else, don't keep switching the AC on and off if you're trying to be energy-efficient.
BARBER: That's a lot of energy to get it started, to cool the room once it's already hot. You know, the thing to keep in mind is that air conditioning doesn't make the room cool. It just moves that hot air out.
ARCHIE: Though there's not quite a consensus on supercooling, experts do agree on other energy-saving methods, like changing air filters regularly and sealing windows and doors to prevent drafts. Ayana Archie, NPR News.
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