Air conditioning vs fan: which is cheaper to run?
Heatwave season is upon us. The Met Office issued its first ever extreme heat warning as temperatures soared to 32c, as England and Wales recorded their hottest day of the year.
Under normal circumstances most of us would be enjoying the air conditioned safe haven of the office during the hottest part of the day. However, many people are still working from home and desperate to keep cool.
Online searches for air conditioning units have spiked by 123pc over the past week, according to Uswitch, the comparison site. But are Britons better off financially sticking with a traditional fan?
Which is kinder to your energy bills?
The cheapest desk fans can be bought for as little as £10, although those after something more sophisticated can spend hundreds on the latest fan technology. Air conditioning units, however, are in a league of their own.
Air conditioning lowers the temperature of a room, rather than recycling air around the same space, and this technology comes with a bigger price tag. The portable kind can cost anything from £300 to more than £700 and beyond.
The cost difference does not end there. A 120W electric fan costs approximately 2p an hour to run, according to research by Uswitch. "On hot and sticky nights many people will leave a fan running to cool things down, and this shouldn't make too much of a dent in your energy usage," said Will Owen, of the company.
By comparison, energy costs for a portable air conditioning unit are around 44p an hour. This could add £28 to a household's weekly electricity bills, if used for an average of 4 hours 18 minutes during the day and 4 hours 48 minutes at night.
Mr Owen said: "Portable air conditioning units will significantly increase energy bills, as they use the equivalent power of constantly running a washing machine or tumble dryer. A fan, however, uses 20 times less energy."
While portable air conditioning units cost hundreds of pounds, the price of permanently installed units can run up installation bills into the thousands.
Phil Steele, of Octopus Energy, said: "The unit alone will cost at least £1,000 and the installation costs, which require a professional plumber to set up the refrigerant fluid pipework, will cost that and more.
"Not to mention the external fitting on the outside of the property looks unsightly and there are often planning restrictions in place."
Which is better for the environment?
The huge difference in energy usage between fans and air conditioning units mean the former is much better for the environment.
"Running a portable air conditioning unit uses so much energy that it is close to the daily consumption of everything else in an average household. It basically doubles energy consumption on a daily basis," said Mr Steele.
The time of day that people need cooling the most also dictates the environmental impact of air conditioning. He added: "Not only are you doubling energy consumption, you are doing so when demand on the grid is highest.
"If you are using air con between 4pm and 6pm, that is when the energy grid throughout the UK is at its dirtiest. It's using a lot more gas supply, and not much wind generation."
