Air conditioning: the ideal 24°C setting and cooling tips

Using air conditioning sensibly matters if you want to curb both the hit to your household budget and its contribution to global warming.

Setting your air conditioning to 24°C

The ideal temperature setting depends on several factors. However, if it is 25°C or above outdoors, it is generally advised to set your unit to 24°C. If it is cooler outside, there is no real need to run air conditioning.

There are a few reasons for this. For one, from 25°C upwards, productivity is widely considered to drop sharply because of the heat: concentrating becomes harder and computers are more likely to overheat. Peer-reviewed scientific studies have shown this. For another, the lower you push the indoor temperature, the more electricity you will use.

As a result, a difference of three degrees could cost up to 15% more. Of course, these figures should be treated with caution, as they depend on your equipment, your settings and your energy supplier. Even so, the overall pattern is straightforward: the less you cool, the more you save. And in a period of crisis where inflation sets the tone, it helps to know the right habits.

Cooling your home: practical advice

Before switching the air conditioning on, ask yourself a simple question: is it really worth the cost? In some situations-and where privacy allows-it may be smarter to go without clothes and open windows to create a through-draught. In the evening, fitting insect screens can be enough-while also remembering to draw curtains across other windows so you do not disrupt insects’ night-time navigation, at a time when their populations are under threat.

Night-time ventilation and daytime shading

Alongside this, it is worth keeping outside air moving through the home throughout the night (when temperatures make that sensible) and, conversely, closing shutters as soon as you can during the day.

Smart controls (thermostats and blinds)

A smart thermostat can also adjust indoor temperature in real time and rein in energy use, including by pre-conditioning the home before you arrive. The same applies to smart blinds such as those from Ikea or competing brands.

And what about the computer?

With electronic devices, the priority is not to leave them in direct sunlight-even through glass. Heat can be harmful to components. For computers, there are laptop stands with built-in fans, and some smartphones even include heat pipes. Also note that using an external monitor can significantly increase your PC’s energy consumption, so take care.