As the temperature rises, so does the cost of cooling your home, especially if you use an air conditioner. Obviously, the best way to keep your home cool during the summer is to use an air conditioner to keep the temperature down, but there are other options that don’t raise your energy bill quite significantly. Air conditioners may offer tempting temporary relief from summer heat, but they’re a huge environmental no-no. You may be cooling your home, but the fossil fuels you’re burning in the process are only making your summers hotter. This summer, leave the air conditioner in storage and try these environmentally-friendly alternatives instead. Fundamentally, the idea is to minimize sources of heat and remove built-up heat from inside.
Fans and Ceiling Fans
- If you’re looking for ways to beat the heat, a ceiling fan can be a great investment for your home. This one appliance can make a room feel 6 or 7 degrees cooler, and even the most power-hungry fan costs less than $10 a month to use if you keep it on for 12 hours a day. Good fans make it possible for you to raise your thermostat setting and save on air-conditioning costs. Fans don’t use much energy, but when air is circulating, it feels much cooler. Ceiling fans are best, but a good portable fan can be very effective as well.
- You should remember that even mild air movement of 1 mph can make you feel three or four degrees cooler. Also make sure your ceiling fan is turned for summer – you should feel the air blown downward.
Shades, drapes, or blinds
- Install white window shades, drapes, or blinds to reflect heat away from the house. Close blinds, shades and draperies facing the sun (east-facing windows in the morning and west-facing windows in the afternoon) to keep the sun’s heat out and help fans or air conditioners cool more efficiently. Always remember that the best way to keep your home cool is to keep the heat out.
Internal Heat
- The most common sources of internal heat gain are; appliances, electronic devices, and lighting. Be aware from where the heat is comming. Now if you have air conditioning, use it wisely. Don’t put lamps, televisions or other heat-generating appliances next to your air-conditioning thermostat, because the heat from these appliances will cause the air conditioner to run longer. The heat they produce will make it think your house is warmer than it really is, and your system will run harder than it needs to.
- Unless you absolutely need them, turn off incandescent lights and heat-generating appliances. Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents; they produce the same light but use a fifth the energy and heat.
- You should also try to avoid heat-generating activities, such as cooking, on hot days or during the hottest part of the day. If you are cooking, use your range fan to vent the hot air out of your house. By reducing the amount of heat in your home, you will have to use less energy to cool it.
Plants
- Plant trees or shrubs to shade air conditioning units, but not block the airflow. A unit operating in the shade uses less electricity. Deciduous trees planted on the south and west sides will keep your house cool in the summer and allow the sunlight to warm the house during the winter. For example just three trees, properly placed around a house, can save between $100 and $250 annually in cooling and heating costs, and daytime air temperatures can be 3 degrees to 6 degrees cooler in tree-shaded neighborhoods.
Roof and Walls
- Paint your roof white – If you’ve got a flat roof, paint it with a specially formulated reflective paint or just paint it white. The reflective effect will help to keep the rooms under the flat roof much cooler.
Other things to remember
- Humidity makes room air feel warmer, so reduce indoor humidity. Minimize mid-day washing and drying clothes, showering, and cooking. And when you must do these things, turn on ventilating fans to help extract warm, moist air.
- Avoid landscaping with lots of unshaded rock, cement, or asphalt on the south or west sides because it increases the temperature around the house and radiates heat to the house after the sun has set.
- If the attic isn’t already insulated or is under-insulated, insulate it NOW. Upgrading from 3 inches to 12 inches can cut cooling costs by 10 percent.
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How about hanging out in the basement?
strip down 2 your undies
no reason to keep a fan on if you’re not in the room. It DOES NOT cool a room, only makes it feel cooler because of evaporative cooling on your skin.
Your suggestion to run your fan for 12 hours a day sounds ridiculous unless you’re sitting in the room with it.
ATTIC FAN! How come I haven’t read anything about attic fans which will blow the hot air out of the attic to keep the rest of the house cool?
Uses a little energy, but what a difference it MAKES!
Try taking a cold shower it works everytime, and yes I know how much women hate taking cold showers!
Move into a cave. They stay cool all year around. Use a mirror to direct sunlight in.
No cave? If you’ve got a basement, it’s cool like a cave. Fix up part of it and live there during the afternoon.
I love snow.
Thanks for your great tips, will definitely come in handy this summer!
Even if you do avoid using the AC, the computer may overheat. And then you won’t be able to go onto your precious geek websites (digg) and pretend you have a girlfriend while reading about how to get one, while simultaneously learning how to shave, make a hamburger, and plan out your iphone sleepover.
Who cares about Arizona? I mean really, aside from its’ impressive 5 million residents.
Houston,TX gets really HOT & HUMID in the summer. We get “FEELS LIKE” temps. from the weather man… 96 but feels like 106. We’re considered one of the most air-conditioned cities on the planet. Due to deregulation in our state we also pay MORE not less for energy. Avg. house bill is $600 – $800 per summer month. Ours never exceeds $200 for 2200 sq.ft with 15 year old central A/C. Shut off A/C vents to rooms you don’t spend most time in; bathrooms, halls, guest B/R, storage rooms, etc. Keep these doors closed or use heavy curtains. Use towels or attach any material to bottom of doors to prevent hot air from these closed off rooms from circulating. While A/C is cooling, check for leaks around windows and around doors and seal up with whatever works; towels, tape, curtains, cloth, etc. Live in half your house if possible this way during the summer. Wear short loose cotton clothing and no shoes or socks. Keep traffic in and out of house to a minimum. Keep blinds and curtains closed, mostly. Adjust A/C thermostat to not turn on after you fall asleep; a few degrees higher. Use a personal fan ($9 at Wal-Mart) to fall asleep. Not cool enough, sleep naked, no covers. Not cool enough, place frozen gallon milk(ice) jug behind fan (use tray for condensation)…voila… personal A/C. Stop using clothes dryer if it is in a room that is cooled by central A/C. Hang wet clothes on hangers outside during peak heat and clothes dry faster than dryer. Wet your hair and T-shirt during peak hot time. Use ceiling fans only when you’re in the room. Keep thermostat at 82 deg. while sleeping, at 81 before noon and after 5pm. At 80 between noon and 5pm, if you’re home, otherwise 81. Never turn off A/C while away on short trips, just turn up to 82 degrees, even with pets inside.
“kewling-tricks” wouldn’t it be better to use the 5-10grand$ and take the family on a nice “cool”vacation instead of on the AC-bill…:)then the other 3 hot months wouldn’t be so bad,besides you can always come on digg:)and whine”…:)
Oh and always have a pitcher of refreshingly cold fresh orange juice up for grabs for anyone in your family who’s gone thirsty because of the summer heat. Cooling gel soles for the feet and water pillows can help, too.
If you have A/C set up a drip system mister to spray the condensor with a fine mist. Cost is
Some of them are expensive but very interesting.
Thanks
http://www.weefly.com
I put together some much more practical tips last year, check it out if you want to stay cool:
http://www.artifacting.com/blog/2006/07/19/how-to-survive-a-heatwave-comfortably/
We used “stokos” to paint our roof white, and the difference between external ambient temperature and internal temperature is roughly 9 – 10 C.
We’re in Crete, and today’s external ambient was 42 C.
There is something called the Earth-Air-Pipe. All new home construction should be required to have these installed. Google it…
http://www.oxfordplasticsinc.com/geothermalheating.htm
Robin
Although these tips may seem banal it’s worth giving them a try. Through small efforts we can make a huge difference.
If you’re interested in setting up a campaign to encourage people to economize on our planet’s energy check out our website:
http://www.greenvoice.com
I am not sure if you mentioned this or not, but window film is good at blocking out the UV rays and heat. Some of them block 99% of UV rays and 70% of heat.
Why can’t you global warming- climate change sceptics, get a life. Get your heads out of the sand and learn something instead of trying to use (very bad ) humour to attempt to discredit what every climate scientist worth a light can assure you. That our climate is changing, and largely because idiots like you continue to use your a/c’s to cool your fat arses.
I was brought up in australia where daytime temperatures regularly get above 40 C ( about 104 F to you u.s.a people) and each summer we had many days when it was 45 C in the shade. We had never heard of A/C let alone used one. We worked regular hours with an hour or so off for lunch, then back to work in the sun. Believe me, sitting on a tractor all day in those temps hardens you up, and harvesting cotton, wheat, corn etc in late summer is FUN, FUN, FUN ! Also harvesting tobacco during the hottest part of the summer dressed only in shorts and a hat, strengthens your heart. My da lived to 95.!!!!
You very soon develop strategies to keep cool, and build your house to take advantage of prevailing breezes, shade, etc etc as pointed out by many comments on this blog. We grew up loving our hot climate, and the balmy winter days, plus the frosts at night.
people who depend on A/C to stay cool are definitely NOT COOL !!!!
If you live in arizona, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.
Don’t try to make it like alaska. IT AINT !!!!
I prefer fans and covering windows that are receiving direct sun. Shut the windows when there is sun pouring in, open them at night.
Of course, living in buildings that were designed with no understanding of the four directions, trees, shading or anything about nature other than destroying it leaves you with little option other than to blast the AC.
I refuse to live in places like that. I like fresh air way too much.
Always being inside a perfectly controlled bubble is not living. People are so deprived, even though they think they are priviledged.
Even a caveman can do it? The enviroment has been here longer than any of us. The human body can survive more than any of us, (99%), ever have had to endure. We are at a time when we know a flip of a switch or turn of a knob brings confort. Just 50 years ago what was air conditioning, yah water coolers if they worked for your climate? We did not have it and it was good, bad, but usually not noticed because we did not have a switch to flip. If you can efford the cost of cool great….if you have your energy provider shut you down for lack of payment, survival will take over and you will try anything to get the confort turned back on and you will be smarter about energy use for a while. Being smart and living according to income is the best way to stay out of the heat. There are govenment programs, less use, higher set thermostats or just go to where they have cool air in the heat of the day and leave your fan(s) running at home and turn the degree mark down when you get back and enjoy your night or rest time. If all of you honesty anwsered, when does the heat really get to you, most of us would state when we lay down to sleep.
I have worked in 120 degrees for 30 years in the elements and a breeze felt like heaven. I worked this way because the money was the highest wage in TEXAS and I was traveling the world. Find you place and learn to live it….I am old now and live in the temp of the day and AIR CONDITIONING AT NIGHT!!!!! Sweat a little it is good for the junk in your trunk.
I have found that freezing empty milk jugs full of water ( lid off) and placing them in front of any little portable fan… and the water melts you get a very nice cooling effect… and cheaper air conditioner cuz it does wonders for the whole room.
Check this US Carbon Footprint Map out, has United States Interactive Carbon Footprint Map, illustrating Greenest States. This site has all sorts of stats on individual State energy consumptions, demographics and State energy offices.
http://www.eredux.com/states/
If you have a central air system, it makes sense to take the naturally cold basement air and move it upstairs. I recently had a modification called Powerzoning done in my home that pulls the cold air downstairs in through a separate cold air return in the furnace. This makes my AC run less and run more efficiently.
My room is soo hot. Thanks for the tips. Okay and you’re gay if you live in Arizona.
Hi, for the Florida folks, I’m from Florida. I live in Gainesville, and while you S. Florida folks might think that is far north and cool, it is actually one of the top 5 most humid cities in the USA. This past summer has been particularly hot and we had a very long stretch without the rains that commonly cool things down in the afternoons and evenings.
We live in a house with no AC — no central AC, no window units, nothing.
So, how does it work.
1. The house was built for the climate: stone walls, not many windows on the south exposure, no large picture windows, attic space, lots of ventilation
2. We have ceiling fans in every room
3. During the day we close the inside shutters on windows facing the sun
4. In the evenings we pull in cooler air from outside with window fans
5. We have a thermostat controlled exhaust fan in the attic
6. Recently we had to replace our roof; we replaced asphalt shingle roof with galvanized metal. This is the old Florida way of roofing and has come back into fashion and is now often put on very high-end homes and commercial buildings. The effect was immediately obvious in terms of a cooler house.
Believe me, we don’t miss having AC, we like the ventilation, the fresh air, hearing the birds outside, and of course the lower utility bills!
By the way, we’ve stayed in houses in Key West, Florida and in India where the built in passive cooling systems (more built in than in our house) were so effective we nearly froze to death!!! I’m not kidding: wool blankets at night in summer in south India.
Best wishes everyone,
Stewart
These are awesome tips my house has no ac and I’ve been contemplating ceiling fans, never considered white shades or additional plants thanks for the info
when thinking ‘cool house’ it’s quite simple. Think shade; prevailing breeze; reflective roof; e.g galvanized iron or plain aluminium; ventilated ceiling; shaded verandah to keep direct sun out of rooms; opening windows during day to allow any breeze to flow through and at dusk closing; greenery on sunny side; water tank on sunny side (surrounded by greenery); raise house on at least metre high posts (stumps); have sun blinds on sunny side and wide verandah on shade side.
these simple considerations will keep your house cool in the most extreme climate.
if you live in rented housing or an apartment or can’t modify your existing house then do as many as you can and throw away your A.C. ( dispose of it in an environmentally friendly way)
If you put up tinfoil shinny side out.. all over it keeps the sun out and breaks the heat alot.. Also make sure your blinds actually keep the sun out.. The darker your house is the cooler it is.. That save you the hassel of having to paint the celing. cause i do know we arent aloud to paint without persmission but we can cover what ever we want..
Everyone has their own threshold for how much heat they can stand, I can’t bare it past 74 indoors, my body can’t handle it. I live in CO & it has been a very hot summer, of course the one summer & am living in a rental with no ac. I live in a townhouse rental without air conditioning. On a 90 degree day it was 78 downstairs. I don’t even want to know what it was in the upstairs bedroom, I estimate 85 degrees. I tried leaving the windows open at night. Downstairs only cooled down to 71 & by 11am it was 75. The problem with these tips is that if you don’t own the house you can’t do most of them. Our windows aren’t placed right for cross ventilation. You run the risk of breakins by leaving your windows open. We couldn’t sleep with the bedroom window open because of noise from outside. My neighbors are loud, rude & ignorant. You can’t watch tv with the windows open. The kids around here scream 12 hours a day. No joke at times there will be 20 kids screaming in the big backyard behind the towhouse’s.
We use the 2nd bedroom upstairs as a computer room. We have a portable ac in that room. On very hot days even with the computers off, when the sun is beating on that side of the building the room will get to 75 or 80 with the ac going, it sucks. I have a window fan in the bedroom, I suck the hot air out during the day & in the evening pull the cool air in till we go to sleep. If the room is very hot we will put the portable ac from the computer room in the bedroom & set it to go off 3 hours after we go to bed. We finally broke down & got a portable ac for downstairs. It is always about 65 downstairs with it going. It was a lifesaver. Before that it was too hot to even watch tv let alone cook dinner. Even cooking on the stovetop brings the room temperature up a few degrees. We are moving in 3 weeks. We got 1 ac at Lowes & 1 at Home Depot. We are planning on returning them. We couldn’t get window units because we have casement (sliding side to side) windows, they suck.
My advice is to get window ac units. If you have casement windows like us, get a portable ac, they are around $400 much more than window units. Cook on a grill outside, you can make burgers, steaks etc & grill veggies to go with it. Make potato salad or macaroni salads in the morning. Serve salads with grilled meat. Don’t use your oven. And even cooking on the stove top creates heat. Only use your oven on very cool days in the morning. Do your laundry early in the morning. Run your dishwasher at night. Take showers early in the morning. Tint your windows if you can. We got the stuff & it was so much trouble my husband gave up. I’ve heard it does wonders, though. If you live in a dry climate & can tolerate outside noise, get a swamp cooler. If you own the house, check out how much getting central ac might be, it might be more affordable than you think.
Hope my story helps. I will never again live in a house without ac.
Whats the same about the sun and the moon
For all of you who complain about the heat in Phoenix, might I suggest taking a visit to Arkansas in August. 100 degrees here feels like 110. 89 degrees here feels like 100. You don’t have the slightest clue as to what humidity does to the human body or an A/C unit for that matter. It is uncomfortable at 2:00 a.m. while you are wearing a jacket at that hour. You sweat profusely at 90 degrees here while not a drop of sweat comes off of you at 110 in Phoenix. I know. I’ve been there. The desert may be hot but it’s not nearly as uncomfortable as the mid-south. Quit your whining Arizona.
Nice cooling tips. It will help me out this summer. Thanks.
Hi there! A good thing to try is to buy some ice a nice big chuck and put is in fount of a fan. The ones on the ground. well if you cant do that put some ice in a big cup you can even freeze it… well then put the fan behind that and you will feel the cool air real soon!! good luck!
Word of advice, don’t put a black roof on your house. We used to have a wood shake roof and that kept our house at least 5 degrees cooler than it is now with a black composition roof.
get naked!
THANKS!!!!!ALL YOUR TIPS WERE USEFULL..
Sleep Naked, keep windows open at night. buy thin cheap curtains – spray with water. One tribe, (could have been from around arizona, i don’t know) – covered windows with woven wet reeds. As the air passed through it was cooled off.
im so bored in skool in technology lol n ma mates are geeks !!!!!!!
HI- I live in New England and it is not so much the heat that bothers us as it is the humidity. How can you reduce the humidity in your home without ac? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Lynn
when its hot i usually put ice cream down my pants n put my head in the frezer =]
love that story.
my company breeze air in new york city try to change to a green HVAC systems.
good luck
This was a replacement for the identical radiator which I had for at least 15 years. We installed it originally when we did a bathroom remodel (you need to tear into the wall). I like it because it is not in the midpoint of the room and it kicks out the right amount of heat for my So. Calif climate. Replacement was a breeze.
Great article. Excellent ideas to replace conventional cooling methods.
Cheers to those people who offered some constructive advice…. the rest of you with too much time on your hands to comment lucidly are sooooo full of sh## ….
Typical Septic-tank yanks….!! your comments stink!!
The recommendation to use window shades to help keep a home cool is right on. Insulating cellular shades go a long way towards keeping the hot air out and the cool air in. What is nice about them is you can get them in light filtering fabric so when they are lowered you don’t feel like you’re in a dark cave. I made sure to get them on my skylights as that is a HUGE source of heat gain.
I’ve liked reading these types of blogs. Exciting stuff! Solar energy has always been a fascination with me.
I live in a mobile home, its fixin to be 99′ here today! Last summer
I put the sprinkler on the roof (well water) and IT REALLY HELPED!