I was reading a recent edition of Popular Science and came across a way to use up to 10% less power on your window box air-conditioner.

To save up to 10% on the cost of running your window air-conditioner you should keep the air-conditioner out of direct sunlight. There are a few ways that you can do this:

1. Install it on the side of the house that doesn’t get any sun
2. Plant bushes or trees to shade the air-conditioner from the sun
3. Build a shade for the air-conditioner

One thing that you need to be aware of when doing any of the three options above is to make sure that you don’t block the airflow around the air conditioner.