Bad aircon habits cost Aussies $1.3bn

AUSTRALIA: Householders in Australia are accused of wasting AUS$1.3bn (€842,114,000) over the summer by leaving their air conditioning running when no one’s at home.

A new survey by comparison website finder.com.au has revealed, amongst a list of bad aircon habits, that 23% of Australians – equivalent to 2.3 million households – leave their air conditioning running when their home is unoccupied

The survey, which gathered information from 2,017 respondents, revealed that those that are partial to aircon indulgence waste an average of 4.1 hours in energy per day.

This works out to a cost of up to $1.3bn or an added $578 per household quarterly electricity bill, the website estimates.

In Australia, the typical split system air conditioning unit consumes around 5kWh and costs around 2.7 cents to run per minute.

Generation Z (18 to 22 year olds) are said to be the worst offenders, keeping the air conditioning running for 5.6 hours a day on average while not home. In comparison millennials only waste 4 hours, gen X waste 3.6 hours, and baby boomers indulge in 4.2 hours of cooling while not at home.

Women are slightly more prone to aircon over-indulgence, wasting on average 253 minutes per day, in comparison to men who waste 233 minutes.

The website advises consumers to reduce the air conditioning load by keeping blinds closed during the day to keep the sun out, setting the thermostat at 25ºC, zoning the air conditioning and using a timer to turn it off at night. Importantly, it also advises ensuring that the air conditioning is properly serviced and maintained at least once year.