I’m one of those people that can’t handle unrelenting heat and so I’m always looking for ways to stay cool. I’m also one of those people who doesn’t like air conditioning (for reasons beyond the obvious power consumption), as a result I love tips on how to make your home cooler in easy ways.
At Treehugger they have a list of 10 ways to alleviate the need for AC. Some require a few years to take effect (like growing a shade tree) while others can happen right away like opening the windows.
The windows on your home are no just holes in the wall that you open or close, they are actually part of a sophisticated ventilation machine. It is another “Oldway”—People used to take it for granted that you tune them for the best ventilation, but in this thermostat age we seem to have forgotten how.
If the Treehugger list is not enough for you, don’t worry! We’ve looked at energy-free ways to stay cool in the summer before:
Adam, I’ve tuned my house the “old fashioned way.” I ditched the inefficient, contractor-grade windows and replaced them with modern, high-efficiency casement windows. I also expanded a couple of internal doorways and added a couple of ceiling fans. I added a tree to the trees that were here and have grown so well over the past 12-years. The house is well insulated so I close it up in the morning, shuttering the blinds, on hot days. Then, come late afternoon I simply open all those casement windows and let the cool evening breezes flush away the accumulated heat.
In winter I use a high-efficiency wood stove/fireplace. Those enlarged internal doorways and ceiling fans do a pretty good job at circulating the heat out of the livingroom and throughout the rest of the house. That, plus good insulation, lets me avoid using fossil fuel heating.
Wow, that’s a great setup!