When I moved from India to the USA for my Graduate studies, one thing that I found quite interesting was that most of the building cooling was mainly by traditional compressor based refrigeration system, while in India I was used to the a ceiling fan bearing all the load for the cooling needs in most places.

When I moved to California last year, I had rendezvous with my good ol' friend again - the Ceiling Fan. I learned that the ceiling fans coupled with an efficient HVAC system can save a lot of energy as well as money to the building owners.

Following are some of my experiences/researches:

Ceiling fan cost up to $0.01/hour of their operation versus $0.36/hour for traditional HVAC system. (Source). The setpoint of the thermostat can be increased to as much as 3°C using ceiling fans along with an efficient Air Conditioning system in summer. This reduces the energy use as well as costs for maintaining the spaces at suitable comfort levels. (Source) Ceiling fans can help maintain the relative humidity level of the room and hence expanding the comfort level of the room even more. Ceiling fans can also be used in winter. This might sound out of the way but if the ceiling fan is equipped with controls to make it spin in opposite direction (than in summer), the warm air pocket that stays on the upper portion of the space is pushed downwards hence warming the room in winter. Ceiling fans are not just for residential spaces. They can be efficiently used in spaces like offices, conference rooms, large gathering spaces, etc.

I would love to hear from my LinkedIn connections as well on their experiences with ceiling fans.