As the dog days of summer continue, lowering your electricity bills while staying
cool and conserving energy may be easier than you think.
Engineering researchers at the University of Florida have found that the performance of home and
business air conditioners plummets when they are undercharged with coolant – and that the problem is
both common and easily remedied. Most consumers would recover the cost of having their system
charged in savings on power bills in three months, the researchers say.
“The moral of this story is that a lot of people could save money and conserve energy through a
relatively simple and inexpensive procedure,” said S.A. Sherif, professor of mechanical engineering at
UF.