How to choose the best energy efficient ac in India?

Planning to buy an air conditioner but worried about the electricity bills? Air conditioners are the biggest energy guzzlers at home, among all electronic appliances. If you are planning to buy an air conditioner for your home but then you should prefer an energy efficient model that have BEE 5- star ratings. Additionally, one must also look at other features such as inverter or non-inverter models and window or split variants. Let us first understand all about the energy efficiency rating that lists how many BTU's per hour are used for each watt of power it draws.

What is EER and how it is calculated?

For room air conditioners, the energy efficiency rating is called the Energy Efficiency Ratio, or EER, while for central air conditioners, this rating is the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio, or SEER.

EER = British thermal units (BTU) rating over Wattage.

Efficiency is directly proportional to energy efficiency rating.  

How to know which air conditioner would be more cost-effective?

What if two air conditioners with the same BTU have different Wattages? For instance, you have a choice between two 10,000 BTU air conditioning units – one with EER of 8.3 and consumes 1,200 watts, and the other which has an EER of 10 and consumes 1,000 watts. Also, the price difference is Rs.15000. To calculate how the more expensive unit is more energy efficient, we must focus on essentially, time per year the unit would be operating and the rate of kilowatt-hour (kWh) in your area. Let’s assume that there are 30 days in a month and the cost of kilowatt-hour in the area in Rs. 10. The difference in energy consumption between the two units is 200 watts, which means that every five hours, the less expensive unit will consume 1 additional kWh (and therefore Rs.10 more) than the more expensive unit.

Additionally, a 1 ton split AC and a window AC of the same star rating, window ACs are much cheaper as compared to the split air conditioners. Thus, window ACs are often budget-friendly, however, if you are someone who puts more importance on the interior aesthetics and factors like quiet operation, then split ACs would suit well to your needs. Also, a 1-ton window or split AC in the inverter category would be a better long-term investment than its non-inverter variant.

Thus, products with a higher EER rating result in a lot of savings with respect to the utility. For office buildings and other commercial buildings where appliances are constantly running, ratings can translate into huge savings over a short period of time. Also, look for the blue ENERGY STAR® certification when deciding on the best air conditioner for your home. This certification means that your chosen unit has met or exceeded higher efficiency standards than other similar models. A feature to look out for in the best air-conditioners is an energy-saving setting, which means that the unit will turn off not only the compressor but also the fan once your space has cooled off, thus conserving a lot of energy.