If you want to stay cool and save money, you need one of our best green air conditioners.
While none of them are, yet, zero electricity waste (as Amory Lovins would prefer) they are all much more energy-efficient than most air conditioning units.
And all of them, at a bare minimum, are Energy Star compliant.
So, if you’re looking for a greener way to stay comfortable this summer, check these awesome air conditioners out.
NEWAIR Portable Air Conditioner and Heater
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Thanks to a built-in heater this air conditioner is useful all year round and is very energy efficient.
LG DUAL Inverter
With Smart Wi-Fi
BEST VALUE CHOICE
Absolutely the best window unit that you can get with a better than Energy Star level of efficiency.
NEWAIR AC-14100H Portable Air Conditioner and Heater
This NEWAIR AC-14100H is an excellent buy.
It’s fully portable – easy to move from room to room.
But, it’s also very powerful and can cool rooms of up to 525 square feet.
It functions as an air conditioning unit, a heater, a dehumidifier and a plain fan too (though the fan is quite noisy when used like this) and it’s really well made.
QUICK FACT
There is a cooling tank integrated into the body of this NEWAIR air conditioning unit that makes it more energy efficient than the majority of similar units.
1. It’s portable, so you’ll have no trouble dragging it around when you need it in another room
2. It has a heating function too which makes it very useful all year round
3. You also get a dehumidifier and fan
1. You need to empty it regularly or it can leak condensed water
2. The fan only mode is very noisy and not ideal for bedrooms
3. It’s a little expensive for a portable air conditioner
LG 18,000 BTU DUAL Inverter Smart wi-fi Enabled Window Air Conditioner
If you want a window unit which has a lot of power but is also incredibly energy friendly then you can’t do much better than this LG 18,000 BTU Window Air Conditioner.
It also has a host of smart home features integrated into the design which make it a joy to use particularly if you have Alexa or Google Assistant already up and running in your house.
QUICK FACT
This uses a dual inverter compressor technology, which not only sounds impressive, but means it’s 25% more efficient than the Energy Star standard requires!
1. It’s packed with smart home features
2. The “sleep mode” makes it easier for you to sleep by optimizing for bedtime
3. It’s very energy efficient
1. It’s quite expensive
2. The warranty claim process isn’t entirely painless
3. Some users report the unit only switches off if the temperature setting is above 75
TOSOT 8,000 BTU Window Air Conditioner with Remote Control
If you want a window air conditioner for a smaller room then the TOSTO 8,000 BTU Window Air Conditioner is an excellent choice for any home – it’s powerful and very quiet.
Not only is this device energy efficient but its low BTU rating means that you are going to find you get very low electricity bills when it’s in use.
QUICK FACT
This has a really intuitive controller which supports smart temperature control. The bad news is that if you lose the control, you lose the smart temperature control too.
1. Great value for money – both as a one-time cost and as an ongoing cost
2. Super energy efficient
3. Excellent smart controls
1. Without the remote, the smart controls are gone
2. Can be hard to contact customer care
3. No instructions in the box
Evapolar Personal Evaporative Air Cooler and Humidifier
If you want more personal attention from an air conditioning unit, you might consider the Evapolar Personal Evaporative Air Cooler and Humidifier.
This doesn’t cool down a room, it cools down whoever it is pointed at when you plug it in via USB – this is a very energy efficient design and uses very little electricity at all.
QUICK FACT
You need to add water to this model in order for the humidifier to work but it’s definitely less “dry cool” than most air conditioners we’ve tested.
1. Very eco-friendly thanks to limited cooling capacity
2. Materials used in construction are also environmentally friendly
3. The humidifier is a really nice touch
1. Everyone in a room will need one of these for themselves, it only cools a person at a time
2. It can leak water
3. It’s a bit noisy
GE® 115 Volt Room Air Conditioner
GE is a reliable brand name and their 115 volt room air conditioner is a reliable model which sits in a window and keeps a medium to large sized room pleasantly cool in even the hottest of weather.
QUICK FACT
Thanks to a 24 hour timer and a three speed fan unit inside this air conditioner, you have total control over when it comes on and goes off and how powerful it is.
1. It’s very energy efficient and at 12,000 BTU cheaper than average to run
2. Fits windows from 25 and ¼” to 38” wide
3. Has an excellent timer set up
1. Slide out chassis isn’t as smooth as we’d like
2. Remote control is handy but easy to lose
3. It’s a bit more expensive than we’d expect it to be
Kenmore 70251 25,000 BTU Room Air Conditioner
This Kenmore 25,000 BTU air conditioner may be energy efficient but it’s a powerful beast which can cool spaces up to 1,600 square feet which is bigger than most people will need.
It does, however, use 11% less energy than the Energy Star standard requires and if you need this much power – it produces a cool and quiet air current that is very pleasant.
QUICK FACT
If you want to get the most out of an air conditioner like this in a smaller room, place it in an upstairs room and let it run – cool air sinks, it will cool most of the house.
1. Very quiet
2. Very energy efficient
3. Cools down a very large area
1. Can switch off before reaching the coolest temperature in Energy Star mode
2. More cooling power than most people will need
3. Quite expensive
Final Thoughts
Of course, if you want to improve the impact on the environment with these best green air conditioners – you could set up solar panels and a solar generator and make your own (free) electricity.
However, if that’s not a project that you fancy taking on at the moment, switching to one of these air conditioning units is still doing the planet a solid.
They’re much kinder than most air conditioning units thanks to their incredible energy efficiency.
So, stay frosty this year without feeling any guilt.
