7 ways to cool your home naturally this summer

Cooling your home with air-conditioning can add greatly to your electricity bill – almost 40 per cent of your home’s total energy needs, in fact. We have all grown accustomed to cooler homes, but there are ways to lower the temperature naturally without blasting the AC. Here are 7 to try.

Add a ceiling fan to your AC

Ceiling fans are much less energy-hungry than AC, and will reduce your bills greatly. The trick is to use them instead of your AC wherever possible, perhaps learning to live with a little more heat.

It may seem counterintuitive, but using a fan at the same time as your air conditioner will circulate the cooler air and mean you don’t need to have it down too low to feel comfortable. Having a few room thermometers around the house will let you know when you can turn it off altogether.

Running fans counter-clockwise will push the air downwards, which is more refreshing. Choose modern fans with only three blades as these are more effective, and keep them clean as this helps them work more efficiently. Bathroom fans are also useful to get rid of hot, stuffy air.

Give some attention to your windows

Opening up windows on opposite sides of your home to create cross-breezes is a smart and passive way to cool your home naturally. Adding a tough security screen on windows, such as Crimsafe, will mean you can leave your windows open all night to purge the house of built-up heat and let the cooler airflow in.

External blinds over windows aren’t cheap, but if it’s a window that’s blasted by the sun, it may be worth the investment. These remote-controlled blinds will keep out the heat and bright light, and reduce the temperature inside noticeably.

Sunshades over windows will block the overhead sun from hitting the glass and heating your interiors. Shading can also come from potted plants outside the windows. If you are leaving the house for the day, putting blinds down will mean you return to a cooler home. Choose white-backed blackout blinds for the most effective cooling.

Close off some rooms

As with heating your house in winter, it’s worth cooling only a few rooms in high summer to save on electricity costs. Close off doors to bedrooms and bathrooms, particularly if they have west-facing windows, and open the windows up again at nighttime. Cooling one room, and staying in there on the hottest days (even sleeping in there, if that’s the only room with air conditioning) will make it much easier to stay comfortable.

If you have any kind of basement or a particularly cool part of your house or apartment, organise it so you can retreat to it on the hottest days of summer.

Turn off unused lights and electronics

Although their heating properties may seem minimal, on a hot summer day every bit of extra heat generated will up the temperature. Plugged-in appliances will still emit heat, so turn them off when not in use, and keep lights off if you’re not in the room.

Cook outside

A barbecue is not just the best food to eat in summer, it will also keep the heat outside. Try making a few salads and cool drinks in the kitchen and cook your food outside on hot days.

Vent your roof space

Roof spaces trap hot air, but you can reduce this by installing a whirlybird and adding insulation. Although it’s not an option for everyone, a white roof will soak up much less heat than a darker one, and these are likely to become more common in the future.

Look at your night-time routines

Open your windows to let in some cool air and choose cotton or bamboo sheets, which are much cooler than synthetic ones.

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