Cooling Options

ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP
	Air
	Water
	Wildlife
	Company policy
	Environmental goals
	Santa Fe Canyon Preserve
	PNM Sky Blue®
	Community Recycling Program
	PNM Butterfly Pavilion

There are many factors to consider when determining whether evaporative cooling, better known as swamp cooling, or refrigerated air conditioning is right for your home or business, including:

equipment and installation costs
energy costs
water usage
maintenance costs

emissions from power production
noise
comfort level

Use the chart below to compare common operating costs and water usage for traditional swamp coolers and refrigerated air conditioning units for an average month during cooling season.

Residential customers pay a higher electric rate for monthly usage that exceeds 700 kilowatt-hours. For this reason, customers using refrigerated air may have significantly higher summer electric bills than users of swamp coolers.

An average residential customer with a swamp cooler is less likely to pay this higher rate due to lower energy usage.

	Electricity used (month)	Water used directly by cooler (month)	Water used in plant to create electricity (month)	Total water used (month)	Electricity use cost (month)
Traditional swamp cooler	135 kwh	449 gallons	65 gallons	514 gallons	$12
Refrigerated air conditioning	590 kwh	0 gallons	286 gallons	286 gallons	$62

The figures above are rounded monthly averages for a typical home in Albuquerque from mid-May to mid-September. Actual usage will vary depending on many factors, including how often you run your appliance and the efficiency of the appliance. PNM power-production facilities require about 0.484 gallons of water to generate 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity.

Swamp coolers with dump pump or bleed-off valve features often can use 45 percent to 235 percent more water than a traditional swamp cooler.

Electric costs on this chart reflect rates paid by PNM electricity customers in Bernalillo, Sandoval, Santa Fe and Valencia counties and in Clayton, Deming and Las Vegas.