Air conditioning uses more household energy than anything else by far at 36 cents per hour on average, which is about 25% of your home energy usage.
Running a ceiling fan costs about a penny per hour. Ceiling fans don’t cool rooms but they cool your skin through the wind-chill effect.
The Department of Energy says that if you use a ceiling fan at the same time as your air conditioning, you can raise the temperature setting by four degrees without a change in comfort.
Just don’t leave the ceiling fan running when you leave the house!