The paper focuses on the evaluation of the impact on residential buildings of innovative control logics defined for a rational utilization of the electric loads and air-conditioning systems. The control logics are implementable thanks to a Decision Support and Energy Management Systems developed by the same authors and easily installable in new and still-existing houses. The paper shows how a significant reduction of the primary energy consumption can be obtained by controlling the air-conditioning units together with the other electric loads of the house. After having explained how the control logics operate, a simulation tool is described, developed for a preliminary evaluation of their effects on the energy consumptions of residential buildings in the design stage. An application of the simulation tool on a typical house, considering different scenarios and varying the climatic conditions and the energy performance class of the envelope, is presented. Finally, a measurement campaign on two real existing houses, equipped with the Decision Support and Energy Management System, is described, and the effects of the control logics are assessed. (c) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.