During those long, hot summer days everyone knows that keeping your house cool can be rather challenging. An almost instant reaction everyone has when the thermometer hits those big numbers is to turn their AC unit on. But this is something we often do with complete disregard for the consequences. And it’s not just about the fact that your electricity bill is likely going to empty your pockets, but you’ll also hurt the environment. One of the consequences is that AC units increase our carbon footprint all over the planet and can have devastating and unfortunately, irreparable long term consequences if left unchecked.
The good news is that you actually can cool down your house without breaking the bank with sky high utility bills and damaging the environment in the process. In this article, we’re going to present you some tips on how to do this.
Opt For Ceiling Fans
A good alternative to AC units are ceiling fans that you can install literally on any ceiling you like. This way you can cool down your home in a more natural way, without causing that much harm to our planet.
If you opt for this strategy, we’d advise you to dust the fans regularly, to keep the air that circulates around as clean as possible. The regular AC unit can be directly harmful to your health if it’s not properly maintained in this regard. With ceiling fans, you’re significantly lowering the risk of pollutants and allergens entering your home, but you also need to make sure that the fans are clean enough.
Ventilate Your Home at Night or Early in the Morning
Another great way to lower the temperature in your home is to ventilate the place at night or early in the morning. By doing this, your house will immediately feel cooler and you’ll be able to sleep better. If there’s not much noise around in your area, we’d also recommend you to leave the windows open during the night, when the temperature drops. Just be wary of any potential illegal house entrances, and you should be ok.
Close the Windows When It’s Hot Outside
Our next tip for keeping the temperature in your house at the optimal level is closely connected to the previous one. While it’s important to cool down your home at night, it’s also paramount that you keep your doors and windows closed during the day. This is especially important during those scorchingly hot days. It simply won’t mean that much ventilating the house at night if you let all the heat come back in during the day. We know it’s important to always breathe the fresh air, but it’s arguably better to abstain from opening your doors and windows when the weather outside is that hot.
Install Window Shutters
Speaking of doors and windows, window shutters also provide great heat protection. Make sure to properly shade all of your windows, but especially those that are facing east and west with top-notch shutters as the Oztech provides.
With window shutters, you’ll be able to considerably reduce heat gain from the sun, in most cases.
Insulate Your House Properly
Insulating your house properly can also help a huge deal in keeping your house cool enough. Make sure to pay attention to the areas like the attic floor, as hot air tends to move up. This is the reason why it’s always much hotter as you increase the distance from the ground. And good floor insulation of your attic will reduce the impact of heat on the inside of your home.
Don’t Leave the Curtains Open
This may sound like a too far-fetched idea on how to bring the temperature inside your house down, but it’s actually quite effective. If you leave the curtains open, the heat will get direct sunlight, thus additionally heating the place. If you don’t like sitting in the dark all day long, you can always apply reflective film to your windows like the one you can get from Purlfrost. That way you’ll reduce solar heat build-up, and filter the sun’s UV rays.
Cook Your Meals in the Evening or Early in the Morning
If possible, opt for cooking your meals in the evening or early in the morning. That way you won’t additionally heat up your home.
Use Lighter Colors to Paint Your Outside Walls
Our last tip concerns painting your outside walls using lighter colors. It’s well-known that darker tones attract sun rays, so a logical step here would be to use lighter colors that are going to help deflect sunlight, thus providing your house protection from the heat.
The Bottom Line
In this article, we’ve tried to give you some of the ideas and tips on how to keep your house or an apartment cool in those long, summer days, but without breaking the utility bill. By applying these tips, not only will you save a significant amount of money on a yearly basis, but you’ll also help reduce the carbon footprint. The solutions we gave you here are mostly both budget- and eco-friendly at the same time. But even if you have to make a little investment, it’s definitely worth the effort in the long run.
Just make sure to remember that the AC unit is a ’solution’ to the problem it created itself, so we strongly encourage you to look for other alternatives for keeping your home cool.
