If A Ceiling Fan Blows in the Forest, Does Anyone Feel It?

Confession time: I always thought that an overhead ceiling fan cooled the room. I’ve often left the fans running in the upstairs bedrooms on hot summer days, falsely thinking I was keeping the rooms cooled. What a waste – I’ve just learned that fans cool people, not rooms. The EnergyStar web site explains it. It also clarifies the fan direction conundrum: counterclockwise in the summer, clockwise in the winter.