Identification

• ENERGY STAR qualifies certain appliances if they meet their energy-efficiency criteria. ENERGY STAR states that central air units qualified by them, "have higher seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER) and energy efficiency ratio (EER) ratings, making them about 14 percent more efficient than standard models."
  
  

Benefits

• ENERGY STAR-qualified central air units can reduce the amount of electricity it takes to cool your home. ENERGY STAR states, "if your central air conditioning unit is more than 12 years old, replacing it with an ENERGY STAR-qualified model could cut your cooling costs by 30 percent."
  
  

Considerations

• Central air units can cool many rooms throughout a house and therefore may use more electricity than wall units that only cool a single space within a home.