The Cost of Ceiling Fans Vs Air Conditioning: What's the Difference?

As it turns out, quite a bit. The summer sun is heating up our homes and causing many of us to switch on our air conditioners. Sure, it's expensive, but it's the only way to keep cool.

Or is it? Fans can actually do the job just as well, and the difference in both the energy and economical cost of ceiling fans compared to air conditioners is immense. Last summer the New York Times reported that, on average:

• A central A/C unit runs about 3 kilowatts and costs about 36 cents per hour
• A window A/C unit runs on 1.2 kilowatts and costs about 14 cents per hour
• A fan that runs on only 30 watts costs less than 1 cent per hour

We spend billions of dollars every year on the electricity costs of air conditioning, accounting for up to 15 percent of the energy used in many homes and even representing up to 70 percent of the summer electric bill in warm climates.

The energy cost of ceiling fans, on the other hand, is much different. Whereas a 2.5-ton central air conditioner uses about 3,500 watts and a window air conditioning unit typically uses between 500 to 1,500 watts, a fan uses only 15 to 95 watts depending on its size and speed.

Looking again at those New York Times statistics that compared the cost of fans versus air conditioning a little further, we can do the math on the monthly home energy costs:

• A central A/C unit would cost about $259.20 per month
• A window A/C unit would cost about $100.80 per month
• Each fan would cost about $3.00 per month

That's a whopping 99 percent decrease in cooling costs when you use fans instead of air conditioners. But you don't have to choose one or the other. One of the biggest cost savings of fans is that they can be used together with your air conditioner. Fans enable you to actually raise your air conditioner settings by as much as 12 degrees while still keeping your home just as cool as if you were exclusively using your air conditioning unit. You just save money. And although the environmental cost of ceiling fans can't be measured as specifically, making the switch from air conditioning to fans has an incalculable effect on our natural resources as well.