Best Energy-efficient Air Conditioners Of 2022

Beat the heat and save some money with the best energy-efficient air conditioners.

Midea’s unique U-shaped design, energy-efficient components, and support for smart features make it our top pick.

The LG LW1817IVSM is powerful enough to cool off a large one-bedroom apartment.

The Whynter ARC-14S portable air conditioner cools your room and looks sharp doing it.

No one wants to sit at home, sweating, on a sweltering summer day. For those of us who lack an air conditioning system, staying cool can be a challenging and expensive proposition. An energy-efficient air conditioner can help you keep your home cool while keeping your utility bills low. Listen. If you’re reading this, it’s probably hot out (or it will be soon). Do yourself a favor and let us guide you through the process of picking the best energy-efficient air conditioners for every person and space.

I live on the bottom floor in a small apartment with no central air conditioning. It can get hot in the summer, with temperatures in our bedroom generally hovering around 80 degrees. That’s not conducive to sleep and our standing fans don’t provide much respite. In other words, my air conditioner is very important. Therefore, I take buying a new one very seriously.

Our selections are the product of hours of research, including personal experiences, peer suggestions, user impressions, and the foundation we used for Popular Science’s previous air conditioner guides, including the best window air conditioners and the best portable air conditioners. I personally have over 10 years of experience covering consumer electronics for Popular Science, CNN Underscored, Gear Patrol, and XDA Developers, among others.

It’s easy to get blindsided when picking a new air conditioner. It’s one of those appliances that we don’t think about too much until they stop working. Before choosing the best energy-efficient AC unit for your home, it really helps to learn the basics—knowing the pros and cons of different air conditioner types and energy ratings will help you make an informed decision about balancing energy consumption and cooling power. We also considered factors like smart features and noise level, which can make a significant difference to the overall experience.

One programming note: While central air will definitely keep any home cool, the installation is a very involved process that you should sort out with experts, including a contractor. This guide focuses on in-window air conditioning units and portable air conditioners, which you can buy as a quick and efficient way to cool a room or home without any major installation costs.

Window and portable AC units offer roughly the same amount of cooling power for around the same price. However, they operate in different ways, which may determine whether one works better for you. Before making your choice, you should know what type of air conditioner you need to shop for.

An in-window air conditioner needs to be installed in a window, often using a bracket to keep it from falling out. Depending on the unit, you may be able to leave your AC in place all year round, or you may have to take out and reinstall it every year. Once installed, though, in-window air conditioners are almost always quieter than portable air conditioners and don’t take up any space in your home.

By contrast, a portable air conditioner usually needs to be in close proximity to a window but is far easier to move around. Simply plug it into an outlet and install a window kit to vent moisture and exhaust. Many portable ACs vent their exhaust through a hose, potentially giving you the ability to cool down a room with a smaller window that couldn’t hold an in-window model.

You definitely want to figure out whether you have a place to install an in-window or portable air conditioner before picking a unit. All things being equal, we’d usually recommend a window unit over a portable AC, but there are plenty of logistical factors that may lead you to go the other way.

Air conditioners come in many sizes, often based on their cooling capacity. To figure out what size air conditioner you need, you need to look at the size of the room or home you’re trying to cool. Measure the space to find out how many square feet you need your AC to cover. Energy Star’s buying guide features a geometry refresher to help people calculate a room’s area specifically for this purpose.

Once you know the square footage, you can determine how much cooling power you need from your air conditioner. Appliance manufacturers measure AC cooling power in British Thermal Units, commonly known as BTUs. According to Consumer Reports, you need 20 BTUs per square foot for the area you want to cool down. The amount of cooling power you need may vary beyond this basic calculation, though, based on room-specific factors such as sun exposure.

A 5,000 BTU air conditioner should have enough power to effectively cool 100-150 square feet, which is more or less the standard bedroom size in homes and apartments. To cool more than a single room, your power requirements climb: Realistically, you want 12,000-14,000 BTUs to cool 550-700 square feet.

There may be factors that prevent you from using an air conditioner large enough for your space. For example, your window may be too short or narrow to support a large window unit. While it isn’t always up to you, keep in mind that using an air conditioner that’s too small may reduce its effectiveness. Likewise, a large air conditioner may use more power than necessary when cooling a smaller room.

No matter what you do, your air conditioner is going to use a lot of power. We recommend picking an air conditioner with energy efficiency in mind for a variety of reasons, from saving money to minimizing the environmental impact of keeping cool. Air conditioners feature a number of energy efficiency ratings, which indicate certain thresholds for sipping power, rather than guzzling it. For the purposes of this guide, we’re going to focus on three energy standards: The Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER), Combined Energy Efficiency Ratio (CEER), and Energy Star certification.

The Energy Efficiency Ratio measures the ratio of an air conditioner’s output per hour, as measured in British thermal units (BTUs), to the AC’s power draw, measured in watts (W). The EER is used to measure the system’s overall efficiency, with a higher rating resulting in a more efficient system. For example, let’s say a 12,000 BTU air conditioner is powered by 1,000W. For every 1W of energy provided to the AC unit, we will get 12 BTU of cooling effect in return. That’s better than a 12,000 BTU unit powered by 1,400W, which would result in a less efficient rating of 8.57.

Combined Energy Efficiency Ratio (CEER) is a standard set by the Department of Energy (DOE) in 2014 that rates the energy efficiency of window-based air conditioners. The ratio shows the cooling capacity output, measured in BTUs, relative to the electricity use and standby/off-mode power consumption.

Some of the best air conditioners also have an Energy Star rating, indicating that they meet federal guidelines for energy efficiency and use 10 percent less energy than an AC unit that isn’t Energy Star-certified. In general, picking an Energy Star-certified air conditioner is the way to go. While window and central AC systems offer Energy Star ratings, no portable units are Energy Star-certified.

All air conditioners are noisy. There’s no way around it, but that’s all the more reason to try and buy one that’s as quiet as possible. Most air conditioners feature an estimated noise level, measured in decibels (dB), to tell you how loud an AC gets at peak performance.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, air conditioners often operate around 60 dB, which is “comfortable” to listen to over a sustained period. That said, the Environmental Protection Agency recommends limiting exposure to indoor noises above 45 dB. Of course, these statistics don’t factor in your personal tolerance for ambient noise. Ultimately, the best advice we can give is that you should look for an AC that runs quietly, especially if you’re buying an AC that you want to last, and avoid any unit that hits above 60 dB.

As with many modern appliances, many modern air conditioners feature nuanced controls and internet-enabled “smart” capabilities, such as the ability to set target temperatures and schedules or control the device through a smartphone app. These functions make your air conditioner more convenient and more efficient. Of course, these features are considered luxuries, so you may not find them on less expensive units.

If you’re in a situation where fans alone cannot keep you cool, it may be time to get an air conditioner. Now that you know how to pick one, let’s talk about the best energy-efficient air conditioners you can buy today.