During summer when the air conditioner is used for a long time, I would try to save electricity by running the air conditioner for 1 hour and alternate with electric fan for 30 minutes. So for every 3 hours, only 2 hours will be attributed to the air conditioner. The cooling effect is slightly warmer but considering the saved electricity, it amounts to something. Even at night time, I would wake up after midnight to switch to the electric fan that would cool us until morning when we wake up.
I also do that especially at night time. We would usually time our air-conditioner for about 3 hours at night time and when it goes off, we would turn on the electric fan which will keep us cool up until morning. The temperature in general usually becomes cooler at nighttime so an electric fan would do during this time of day. It saves a lot to minimize the use of air-conditioner because it can really consume a high amount of electricity.
If the room is relatively air tight you may not have to run the air conditioner for a long period of time before you switch to the use of rhe fan. When the room is cooled, turn off the air conditioner and utilize the fan in place of the air conditioner. The room will stay well cooled for hours as long as the air is not escaping.
That's a good strategy for saving electricity. Apart from using electricity efficient air conditioner, fan or air cooler,I also switch on and off. When the room is cooled down, I switch off the cooling appliances and switch on when the room begins to get warmer. Usually, I don't use AC,fan or cooler at night because I open all my windows which lets cool air get inside the room.
