Comments on: shopping green, getting an air conditioner?

By: tsumanitu1

tsumanitu1 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:55:59 +0000

Best one is a fan (while sitting under a shade tree).

By: Rick K

Rick K — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:26:48 +0000

be thankful that you’re not going to be miserably hot indoors anymore.

By: odysseus1959

odysseus1959 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:08:41 +0000

I know that a lot of people in Israel have solar hot water, do you ? May if not, your mom could get this to off set the energy used in the AC. There is swamp type AC that use water to cool, works best in hot dry climates, like you have.

By: Brian

Brian — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:35:36 +0000

Greener Choices, run by Consumer Reports, has a couple of suggestions. Depending on the age of your current air conditioner you can get a much more efficient, energy saving air conditioner which would help the environment.

Other suggestions while doing this is to check your duct work in the attic to ensure that there are no leaks or that it is not disconnected. That would waste the air you are cooling.

You can also have her get a digital thermostat so you can program your central heat and air to not cool / heat the house when you are gone. Instead It can turn on a half hour before you get there which would save energy and money.

I do not know of the eco-labels available in Israel but there are several non-United States once listed at this site including Germany’s Blue Angel, Nordic Swan, and EU’s Eco Flower.

Good luck finding the most energy efficient model and remember that you do not need to cool / heat a home when you are not there.