How much energy could be saved from not having central AC?

[ZLoth]

I live in North Dallas, Texas, and yes, it gets hot here during summer. Not as bad as Houston because of the humidity.

Here's what bothers me. R-22 Freon was phased out in 2020 entirely because of the harm it was causing to the O Zone layer. It's replacement, R410A Puron, is more environmentally friendly, but isn't as efficient, thus you need a more powerful A/C unit to produce the same amount of cooling. Thus, more electric power. At least when I replaced the air conditioning unit two years ago in my home, it was replaced with a variable-speed unit and a smart thermostat. What next? The energy consumption from residential pool pumps?

Of course, guess what uses plenty of air conditioning? Data centers. Where do you think all of your streaming entertainment comes from?

[kalvado]

I live in North Dallas, Texas, and yes, it gets hot here during summer. Not as bad as Houston because of the humidity.

Here's what bothers me. R-22 Freon was phased out in 2020 entirely because of the harm it was causing to the O Zone layer. It's replacement, R410A Puron, is more environmentally friendly, but isn't as efficient, thus you need a more powerful A/C unit to produce the same amount of cooling. Thus, more electric power. At least when I replaced the air conditioning unit two years ago in my home, it was replaced with a variable-speed unit and a smart thermostat. What next? The energy consumption from residential pool pumps?

Of course, guess what uses plenty of air conditioning? Data centers. Where do you think all of your streaming entertainment comes from?

Some flavor of geothermal, using  ground as a heat and cold storage. You need to look at a local climate to tell how feasible that is, but should be about right in most of US. Better home insulation is another side of the deal.

[ZLoth]

I live in North Dallas, Texas, and yes, it gets hot here during summer. Not as bad as Houston because of the humidity.

Here's what bothers me. R-22 Freon was phased out in 2020 entirely because of the harm it was causing to the O Zone layer. It's replacement, R410A Puron, is more environmentally friendly, but isn't as efficient, thus you need a more powerful A/C unit to produce the same amount of cooling. Thus, more electric power. At least when I replaced the air conditioning unit two years ago in my home, it was replaced with a variable-speed unit and a smart thermostat. What next? The energy consumption from residential pool pumps?

Of course, guess what uses plenty of air conditioning? Data centers. Where do you think all of your streaming entertainment comes from?

Some flavor of geothermal, using  ground as a heat and cold storage. You need to look at a local climate to tell how feasible that is, but should be about right in most of US. Better home insulation is another side of the deal.

Lets see here...

Moved to Texas in early 2019
Replaced all the windows in late 2019
Replaced the air conditioner in early 2020
Added home insulation in early 2021
Replacing all the patio doors (in progress)

Anything I'm missing besides solar-powered roof fans to pull out the hot air from the attic?

[kalvado]

I live in North Dallas, Texas, and yes, it gets hot here during summer. Not as bad as Houston because of the humidity.

Here's what bothers me. R-22 Freon was phased out in 2020 entirely because of the harm it was causing to the O Zone layer. It's replacement, R410A Puron, is more environmentally friendly, but isn't as efficient, thus you need a more powerful A/C unit to produce the same amount of cooling. Thus, more electric power. At least when I replaced the air conditioning unit two years ago in my home, it was replaced with a variable-speed unit and a smart thermostat. What next? The energy consumption from residential pool pumps?

Of course, guess what uses plenty of air conditioning? Data centers. Where do you think all of your streaming entertainment comes from?

Some flavor of geothermal, using  ground as a heat and cold storage. You need to look at a local climate to tell how feasible that is, but should be about right in most of US. Better home insulation is another side of the deal.

Lets see here...

Moved to Texas in early 2019
Replaced all the windows in late 2019
Replaced the air conditioner in early 2020
Added home insulation in early 2021
Replacing all the patio doors (in progress)

Anything I'm missing besides solar-powered roof fans to pull out the hot air from the attic?

Oh, attic fans seem to be surprisingly controversial thing. Intuition tells me it's a great idea, but a lot of writeups disagree with the approach.
IR inspection of the house and blow test may tell you something else.

[NJRoadfan]

The last apartment I rented in DC (where the winters are milder than they are in NJ or Chicago) had a heat pump and it would stay in emergency mode for most of the winter.  It cost me a fortune in electricity bills.

Your heatpump and/or thermostat was broken or your place had zero insulation. Even the bottom of the barrel system I have can maintain the setpoint without the heating strips coming on well below freezing.

[abefroman329]

The last apartment I rented in DC (where the winters are milder than they are in NJ or Chicago) had a heat pump and it would stay in emergency mode for most of the winter.  It cost me a fortune in electricity bills.

Your heatpump and/or thermostat was broken or your place had zero insulation. Even the bottom of the barrel system I have can maintain the setpoint without the heating strips coming on well below freezing.

" Zero insulation"  would be my guess - when they renovated the building, they didn't spend very much time or money on the exterior walls. We would also get a comprehensive rat infestation every few months