Air conditioning is expensive. You’re paying for every degree your home works to maintain, and during Utah’s hot summers you may be asking your AC to work overtime. Not only are you paying more for it, but you’re also harming the environment and wearing your AC unit down. Finding ways to keep your home cooler can ease the strain on your AC unit, as well as decrease your utilities bill in the dead of summer. Let us show you how.
10 Ways to Keep Your Home Cool Without Blasting AC
- Use Your Blinds. Keep your blinds closed against sunlight during the hot months. This may mean keeping east blinds closed in the mornings and west- and south-facing blinds closed during midday and evening. This will block heat from entering your home.
- Add Ceiling Fans. Ceiling fans are a functional and non-intrusive way to keep the air flow up in your home, and cool down the air in your living spaces. It’s not too tricky to wire or hang one even if you don’t have the tools for it right away.
- More fans! Small countertop fans, standing fans, any type of fan can cool your space. Find the areas of your home that feel stuffy and stale, and plant a fan right there. The increased air flow will help the home stay cooler.
- Cool Your Bed. Switch to light cotton sheets and consider a buckwheat pillow. Adding a fan or small swamp cooler to your bedroom can also help you sleep cooler at night.
- Window Liners & Tints. Particularly effective if you have a lot of direct sunlight hitting your windows during the day, liners and tints help reflect the sun’s rays away from your home and can keep it up to 5 degrees cooler naturally.
- Shade Trees. Planting trees around your home to strategically block direct sunlight is a smart and beautiful way to keep your home cooler. Try large trees like oaks and elms which will grant the best shadows over time.
- Turn off Appliances. Did you know that your appliances are giving off heat, even if they aren’t in active use? It may seem silly but it can make a difference to turn off your appliances for a cooler home.
- Open Windows at Night. As soon as the temperature drops, open everything up. This means windows and interior doors, and exterior doors if you have screens to prevent bugs. It will quickly cool off your home and encourage air flow.
- Replace Insulation. If your home is older, the insulation is probably way out-of-date. It can be replaced with modern insulation that will make a huge difference in the resting temperature of your home.
- Switch Light bulbs. If you still use incandescent light-bulbs, switching them to fluorescent can produce much less heat inside your home. It’s a simple fix that could have big payoffs.
With at least two more months of summer ahead of us, it’s time to give our AC a little love and keep our homes cooler as naturally as possible. Pass the ice!
