Most of the time we are trying to keep the heat inside the house. However, in Summer when the weather is very hot, we have the opposite problem of trying to keep the house cool without using electricity.
How can you keep your house cool without using air conditioning or fans? Both require electricity, so the more we can avoid needing them the better. If your house is well insulated, it will take several days to warm up, provided you keep door and windows closed as much as possible. Whenever it is cooler outside a window, usually at night, open the window and let the cooler air come in. Trees are known to keep the ground cooler, so a window close to a tree may be even better. If you have a cellar, that may be the coolest part of your house, just as natural caves are cool in Summer. (In Winter caves are warmer, as the temperature underground doesn't change much.) |
When the sun shines on a window, it will warm the air inside the room, even if you have double- glazing. Drawing the curtains or closing a blind will help to reduce the warming, especially if the side facing outwards is a pale colour. This is because the sunlight will be reflected out again, and a pale colour will reflect more light. (For keeping heat inside, the colour doesn't matter.) Even better is to have shutters on the outside of the house, as they do in warmer countries.
Janet: "We had white blackout blinds installed to help keep the heat inside in cold weather. Then, when it was so hot last Summer we found that closing them helped reduce the heat from the sunlight. We've had new ones installed in our glazed-in porch and this time they are thermal as well."
Janet: "We had white blackout blinds installed to help keep the heat inside in cold weather. Then, when it was so hot last Summer we found that closing them helped reduce the heat from the sunlight. We've had new ones installed in our glazed-in porch and this time they are thermal as well."
Avoid producing heat inside the house
The kitchen is often where heat is produced indoors.
Your fridge and freezer help you keep food and drinks cool but, in doing so, they produce heat. (If you can get access to the back of a fridge or freezer, you should be able to feel the heat being emitted.) For safety, designers of fitted kitchens have to make sure that there is a way for this heat to escape. You can reduce this heat a bit, if you avoid opening your fridge and freezer too much.
Try to plan meals which require little or no cooking, such as salads. Boiling only the water you actually need will reduce the heat produced, or may be have cold drinks. Forward planning could involve cooking and freezing some salad ingredients during cooler weather. Then they would just need to be defrosted on the day.
Try to keep yourself cool
If you are hot when entering the house, then you will not only feel worse but also warm it up still more.
Vigorous activities will make you hotter, so try to avoid them as much as you can during the day. Maybe take outdoor exercise when it is cooler in the evening. If you are sitting outside, stay in the shade and try to catch a breeze.
The kitchen is often where heat is produced indoors.
Your fridge and freezer help you keep food and drinks cool but, in doing so, they produce heat. (If you can get access to the back of a fridge or freezer, you should be able to feel the heat being emitted.) For safety, designers of fitted kitchens have to make sure that there is a way for this heat to escape. You can reduce this heat a bit, if you avoid opening your fridge and freezer too much.
Try to plan meals which require little or no cooking, such as salads. Boiling only the water you actually need will reduce the heat produced, or may be have cold drinks. Forward planning could involve cooking and freezing some salad ingredients during cooler weather. Then they would just need to be defrosted on the day.
Try to keep yourself cool
If you are hot when entering the house, then you will not only feel worse but also warm it up still more.
Vigorous activities will make you hotter, so try to avoid them as much as you can during the day. Maybe take outdoor exercise when it is cooler in the evening. If you are sitting outside, stay in the shade and try to catch a breeze.