How To Reduce Air Conditioner Running Costs With Energy Efficient House Design

Phill Crawley

Smarter Air & Electrical

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Optimizing Energy-Efficient House Design to Minimize the Cost of Running an Air Conditioner

When building a home, you must take into account any future living costs which will incur if you don’t plan a strategic build. Our energy-efficient house design is targeted towards keeping you cool in summer and in turn, reducing any extra air conditioning costs over time. 

Ceiling Insulation

Ceiling insulation is required for all new house builds. Effectively insulating the ceiling will minimise the heat traveling through the gyprock ceilings & into your home. Ceiling insulation comes in numerous thermal resistance values (R-Value*) and can help improve the thermal performance of your ceiling as well as enhance the energy efficiency and comfort of your new home.

The higher the R-Value the better! This means less heat will travel into your ceiling space making it an essential factor to consider when opting for an energy efficient house design to reduce air conditioner running costs.

 

Roof Insulation 

In summer, around 40% of cool air is lost through the roof! Lessen the heat in your home with an additional layer of heat protection. Installing a glass wool thermal blanket such as Bradford Anticon (suitable for use with metal roofs only) can substantially reduce the heat in your roof. This comes in numerous thermal resistance values and can help improve the thermal performance of a roof as well as enhance the energy efficiency and comfort of your new home.

The same principle applies here, to optimise your energy efficient house design, the higher the R-Value means less heat will travel from your roof space down into your home. This will save you money by reducing the workload on your air conditioner, which will result in a reduced cost to run your air conditioning system.

Anticon is part of the Bradford Total Home Comfort line of insulation products.

 

Install Whirly Birds

Energy Efficient House Design-whirly birds

Now that you’ve trapped heat between the roof insulation and ceiling insulations, you’ll need to install a few whirlybirds to remove it. A whirly bird is a functional part of any energy-efficient home design as they work to let cooler air in as warm air is expelled through the turbine. 

For a whirly bird to be efficient, it must be installed correctly! For a whirlybird to suck the hot air out of your roof they need somewhere to draw cool dry air into your roof. To achieve this, the solution is to cut a few vents in the soffit/eave.

 

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Image Taken from: https://www.astecpaints.com.au/heat-reflective-paint.html

Choose Light Exterior Paint Colours

The shade of colour you choose to paint your home and also the colour of the roofing material can affect the amount of heat that enters your home. By lessening the heat that enters your home, you’ll use less air conditioning to cool it resulting in an energy-efficient house design. As a general rule of thumb, dark colours absorb heat into your home and light colours reflect heat away. So it makes sense to keep this in mind when going through your colour selection process with your builder or painter.

 

Optimise Shade Coverings

Energy Efficient House Design-blinds

It’s no secret that a little bit of shade can dramatically keep the temperature of your home down, so when planning your landscaping keep in mind that strategically placed trees around your home is a green way to help keep cooling costs down.  Just make sure you don’t shade your solar panels! Shade sails can also be effective in adding to an energy efficient home design where appropriate.

Once you’ve completed your build using an energy efficient home design, you might consider using MyAir | Smart Air Conditioner to remotely control your ducted air conditioner, or MyPlace by Advantage Air | Smart Home Control to remotely control functions such as your garage, lights, blinds and fans. For more building or home efficiency tips, feel free to contact us for advice.

Scott Booth
We had a great experience from quote to install. I spent a year shopping around for air conditioning solutions and this mob had the best ...
Scott Booth
We had a great experience from quote to install. I spent a year shopping around for air conditioning solutions and this mob had the best price and the best service by far. An easy decision.
Scott Booth
Scott Booth
Jade Marsh (Jadey k450)
Had ducted aircon installed very promptly. Chose this company due to their customer satisfaction and importance for continuing to offer support. Have had to have ...
Jade Marsh (Jadey k450)
Had ducted aircon installed very promptly. Chose this company due to their customer satisfaction and importance for continuing to offer support. Have had to have technicians out twice to replace sensors and the second technician was absolutely phenomenal and gave use amazing advice.
Jade Marsh (Jadey k450)
Jade Marsh (Jadey k450)
Goran Radosavljevic
Very professional and friendly people at the same time, so easy to deal with. They always come on promissed time and deliver all 100%. They run ...
Goran Radosavljevic
Very professional and friendly people at the same time, so easy to deal with. They always come on promissed time and deliver all 100%. They run like ants, everyone knows what he's supposed to do and before you know it's ready to be turned on, when they start showing you how to control your new AC. Well done Smarter A&E, very happy with what you've accomplished. I strongly recommend this business to everyone.
Goran Radosavljevic
Goran Radosavljevic
Zuzana Husak
Smarter Air & Electrical made the choosing and installation of aircon a breeze. From the first contact, through inspection and installation I was impressed with ...
Zuzana Husak
Smarter Air & Electrical made the choosing and installation of aircon a breeze. From the first contact, through inspection and installation I was impressed with the professional service, punctuality, tidiness and politeness. I would highly recommend the team, in fact I already have. Thank you Alex, Davis, Tom and the boys.
Zuzana Husak
Zuzana Husak
Dave B
The guys were great. Professional, polite and efficient. Arrived on time, completed all work to a very high standard and left the house cleaner than ...
Dave B
The guys were great. Professional, polite and efficient. Arrived on time, completed all work to a very high standard and left the house cleaner than when they started. Would not hesitate to recommend Smarter Air to anyone.
Dave B
Dave B
Aslam Chapri
Excellent!!! The customer service was outstanding. Alex went above and beyond to help me finding the product I wanted. They efficiently and in time replaced ...
Aslam Chapri
Excellent!!! The customer service was outstanding. Alex went above and beyond to help me finding the product I wanted. They efficiently and in time replaced my old ducted aircon system. The installation team, Tom, Jacob, Levi and rest of the team were highly professional and polite and tidied up nicely after completing installation. Davis' initial site inspection was very informative. I highly recommend Smarter Air & Electrical.
Aslam Chapri
Aslam Chapri
Frankie Smith
Contact from start to finish was good, company was very responsive. Guys who installed were polite and professional. Price was much better than other quotes ...
Frankie Smith
Contact from start to finish was good, company was very responsive. Guys who installed were polite and professional. Price was much better than other quotes we got too. Happy all around, would highly recommend
Frankie Smith
Frankie Smith
Aaron Bey
Had our ducted aircon installed today the team was on time very professional and very efficient and tidy. It has been an amazing experience...
Aaron Bey
Had our ducted aircon installed today the team was on time very professional and very efficient and tidy. It has been an amazing experience from initial contact to quoting through to site visit and install. Didn’t try to sell us anymore than we need and really knew what they were talking about. Would highly recommend to anyone look to have air con installed. Thanks to the whole team.
Aaron Bey
Aaron Bey
Adam Staier
These guys are great. From initial quote right up to demonstration after it was installed they’ve been brilliant. Ours was a tricky install...
Adam Staier
These guys are great. From initial quote right up to demonstration after it was installed they’ve been brilliant. Ours was a tricky install due to access issues and they absolutely nailed it. Friendly professional staff and they work hard.
Adam Staier
Adam Staier
Anna Marcantelli
Have had the team from Smarter Air and Electrical do an aircon system for our shop and it’s absolutely changed our life. We were...
Anna Marcantelli
Have had the team from Smarter Air and Electrical do an aircon system for our shop and it’s absolutely changed our life. We were dying from the heat before but the guys had it installed in no time and couldn’t have been any easier to deal with! From calling up and booking in to having the system installed was seamless and the super friendly team made the decision that much better! Will continue to use these guys and always recommend to anyone in the future needing any air conditioning and electrical work done!
Anna Marcantelli
Anna Marcantelli

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