Test Your Ducts For Leaks. The average home loses 27% of its heating or cooling from leaky ducts. (2006) And over 86% of homes had ducts which lost more than 10%. (June 2009) Leaking ducts and insufficient insulation meant that the average home used 162 kWh/mo. extra electricity per month (July 2009), or 18% more than normal. .

Evaporative Cooling. An evaporative cooler works by blowing water-cooled air. It can be a free-standing unit in your room, or a window-mounted unit, or a whole-house unit. .

Use a Mini Split System. Mini-split systems are neat. You have an outside condenser, like with a central system, and that runs directly to a cooling vent in each room without any ductwork. .

Don't Oversize When Buying a New AC. An AC that's too big is inefficient and wastes money! You want your AC to run at least ten minutes when it kicks in.(DOE, HomeEnergy) Oversized AC's cool the house down too quickly and then cut off before they've reached their most efficient running level. .

Use an AC Timer or Smart Thermostat. Your thermostat might already have a timer built-in. If not, you can replace your thermostat with a programmable one. .

Use a Bed Fan. Why pay to cool the whole house while you're sleeping when you really need to cool only yourself? The Bed Fan solves that problem, .