Energy Star Window Air Conditioners: A Greener Alternative for Us?

Our Home Owners Association (HOA) bans window air conditioners. They’re unsightly, the rule claims, and besides, everyone in the community has central air conditioning systems. Apparently our neighbors don’t want to see a bunch of window units as they’re driving past our houses each day. I can see the point…

But window air conditioners may just be the wave of the future. Energy prices in our area have skyrocketed over the last 2 years. Electric is up more than 85%, and we Marylanders are starting to feel the pinch. A traditional colonial home built in the 1980s can see electric bills in excess of $450 each month, and that’s if you aren’t running anything fancy, like a pool or spa. More than half of the cost in the hottest months of the Summer is attributable to running central A/C.

A central air conditioning system cools the whole house, while window units only cool one or two rooms. For us, the only rooms that MUST be cooled are the two bedrooms we use (ours and the kids’). We can’t sleep when its too hot or humid. For the most part, we can live with elevated temperatures during the day; we’re frequently outside anyway. But at night, if its hot or humid, we don’t sleep well.

Two window units might make a lot of sense for us. The units would only need to run at night, and since we can keep the doors to the rooms shut, would likely cool the rooms quickly. Instead of cooling 3000 sq. ft. all day and night, we could cool the 400 sq. ft. that matter most. A decent energy star window A/C unit for our room size costs about $300. I estimate we would save at least $100 per month in the 3 hottest months of the Summer, and $50/month in the milder months. This would make the payback period less than two years - that’s a lot of green money saved.

Plus, we’d be dumping a whole lot less CO2 in the air, and using less electricity, thus lowering demand for electricity and (marginally) reducing electric prices for everyone else. That’s a whole lot greener for the environment.  Seems like a win-win-win…. Oh yeah, except for my neighbors, who still don’t want to see windows units hanging out of everyone’s houses… But then again, I can (sort of) understand.

What do you think? Should HOAs be reconsidering rules for window A/C units? Have you considered supplementing your central A/C unit with a window unit?

Photo by takomabibelot.