Ceiling Fans

At my apartment, my roommates and I try to avoid the use of the heater and AC since it has such a huge impact on the electricity bill. Because the weather has been fluctuating greatly the past couple weeks as we creep into Spring, the apartment has been slightly chilly at night and toasty during the day. The warm days aren't a problem because we have cooled rooms down with ceiling fans, but the evening pose more of a problem. Our choices seem to be either bundle up, or give in and turn up the thermostat. What I didn't know until a conversation with a friend is that the ceiling fans can also be used to warm a room up. So I went searching for some more information and found an article called "Ceiling Fan Hacks: Save Big on Energy Use" on the website The Simple Dollar: http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2008/06/24/ceiling-fan-hacks-save-big-on-energy-use/. According to the article, the typical ceiling fan uses 60 watts of energy, whereas an AC unit uses somewhere in the neighborhood of 3500 watts. It explains the breeze effect that is created in the summer, and then goes on to discuss how to make it work to your advantage in the winter. Apparently, flipping the switch at the base of the fan, so that the blades are rotating in a clockwise manner, will push the rising, warm air back down the walls of a room. (I assume this will only work if the heater is at least on low to create a source of warm air.) If the temperatures permit tonight, I plan to try this out for myself. Hopefully I will have something to report soon!