Color is proportional to temperature. A typical fan will use 50-150 Watts while operating at high speed. This paper also presents metered results from an analysis of 400 Florida households that indicate no cooling energy savings due to ceiling fans. Homeowner-reported thermostat settings were the same for homeowners with and without ceiling fans and measured thermostat settings were not statistically different for a sample of homes in which the indoor air temperature was measured. Because the fans have been shown to effectively increase comfort while potentially decreasing energy use, their installation and use has long been promoted by energy extension services, utilities and even through energy code compliance credit.
Ceiling fans save energy if their use also results in reduced air conditioner use.
However, ceiling fans use energy and produce additional sensible heat load during the cooling season. No thermostat set point or other more detailed schedule information was provided in the report. In summary, comfort studies indicate that wind speed can be traded for temperature and simulation results indicate significant energy savings from small increases in thermostat set points. However, field research is limited and available data show savings are minor or inconsistent. The simulation was conducted to show the relationship of residential cooling energy use to interior thermostat set points and fan use for three Florida cities- Jacksonville, Orlando and Miami.