An investigation has been undertaken to examine the influence of atomizer construction and droplet size distribution on energy consumption of swirl atomizers used for spray cooling of hot gases. It is shown that in some cases, to minimize the energy consumption the droplet size distribution (or deviation from the mean) is more important than the mean droplet size. It is also shown that, in order to maximize the heat transfer effectiveness and minimize the power requirements for the production of spray droplets, atomizers with low values of the ratio R/r(ex) should be used, where R is the mean inlet radius and r(ex) is the exit or ice radius. Good qualitative agreement between the experimental data and the values predicted by the author has been shown. The direction of further investigations is recommended.