Will Shading AC Unit With Canopy Lower Energy Bills? | Snopes.com --> --> Snopes Now available in the app store! Open Log in to activate your ad-free access. It looks like you might have a Snopes membership! Log in to enjoy your ad-free experience. Log In From Snopes You're browsing with fewer ads for the next 24 hours, thanks to our sponsor . Learn more → --> --> Fact Check Will Shading AC Unit With Canopy Lower Energy Bills? While it is better for your AC unit to be in the shade, a canopy or an umbrella likely isn't enough to lower your electricity bills. Dan Evon Published July 26, 2022 Image courtesy of Flickr Claim: Placing a canopy or umbrella over an outside air conditioner unit so that it is in the shade can help improve efficiency and lower energy costs. Rating: Mostly False About this rating Context A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Energy told us that this was a "myth." While homes that are shaded by trees may see reduced energy costs, the difference one would see by placing an umbrella over an AC unit is negligible. Shading an AC with an umbrella would have a negligible effect." When the Direct Energy blog took a look into this issue in 2017 , it noted a few logical flaws with the shade solution. But before we get to that, here's a brief explanation of how one of these air condition condenser units work from appliance company Carrier : The refrigerant gas leaves the home through a copper tube and passes into the compressor in the air conditioner unit outside. Think of the compressor as a large electric pump. The compressor pressurizes the refrigerant gas and sends the refrigerant into the outdoor unit’s condenser coil. A large fan pulls outdoor air through the condenser coil, allowing the air to absorb heating energy from the home and release it outside. During this process, the refrigerant is converted back to a liquid. It then travels through a copper tube back to the indoor unit where it passes through an expansion device, which regulates the flow of refrigerant into the evaporator coil. The cold refrigerant then absorbs more heat from the indoor air and the cycle continues. The goal of shading an AC unit is to lower the temperature surrounding the condensing coil and the copper tubing as it transfers the refrigerant back and fourth from the house. These parts, however, are already shaded by the unit's casing. Direct Energy writes : First, there’s an assumption that the sun shining directly onto the unit causes the whole thing to heat up like a brick. Now, shading the condenser might reduce the sun’s heat on the casing but the condenser’s casing doesn’t conduct that much heat to the internal fins and tubing. In fact, all those bits are already under shade inside the case. There have been several studies done over the years on this issue. In 2010, for example, researchers from the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research studied the impact shade had on air conditioners and found that shading alone would only result in a maximum of an increased efficiency of 1%. The study concluded : The actual increase in efficiency due to shading is not expected to exceed a maximum of 1%. Actual daily and seasonal savings in energy will be even lower. The findings of this study suggest that shading alone, without evapo-transpiration, is not an effective measure to improve A/C efficiency or reduce electrical demand. While temporary structures such as the one shown above won't do much to reduce energy costs, other strategies could help cool off homes. One tip, according to the DOE, is to make sure that AC units are clean and that there isn't anything nearby restricting airflow. Even better, people can plant trees around their homes to provide some natural cooling to their homes and AC units. The DOE spokesperson said: Trees or other large structures could potentially reduce AC loads if they can reduce the temperature around the AC units, but trees also have the advantage that shading can also reduce the overall AC load for a building too. Environmental Protection Agency, people can lower their energy costs by using trees and other vegetation to shade their homes. This, in turn, will decrease the demand for air conditioning. The EPA writes : Trees and vegetation lower surface and air temperatures by providing shade and through evapotranspiration. Shaded surfaces, for example, may be 20–45°F (11–25°C) cooler than the peak temperatures of unshaded materials. Evapotranspiration, alone or in combination with shading, can help reduce peak summer temperatures by 2–9°F (1–5°C). Trees and vegetation are most useful as a mitigation strategy when planted in strategic locations around buildings or to shade pavement in parking lots and on streets. Researchers have found that planting deciduous trees or vines to the west is typically most effective for cooling a building, especially if they shade windows and part of the building’s roof. The use of trees and vegetation in the urban environment brings benefits beyond mitigating urban heat islands including reduced energy use: Trees and vegetation that directly shade buildings decrease demand for air conditioning. Sources Does Your Air Conditioner Need Shade? – Energy Efficiency Myths. https://blog.directenergy.com/shading-air-conditioner-myths/. Accessed 26 July 2022. “How Do Air Conditioners Work | How Does Central Air Work.” Carrier, https://www.carrier.com/residential/en/us/products/air-conditioners/how-do-air-conditioners-work/. Accessed 26 July 2022. Jones, Benji. “This Could Be the Coolest Summer of the Rest of Your Life.” Vox, 22 June 2022, https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2022/6/22/23176860/heat-wave-summer-temperatures-climate-change-us-europe. Trobe, Tony. “Trees Much Better at Cooling than Shade Structures.” The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 Jan. 2015,