What is Natural Home Cooling?

by George Karonis

Trying to escape the summer heat can be difficult. To make it even worse, you have to consider whether you want to use tons of energy and run your AC all day. Doing so is both expensive and isn’t doing any favors for the environment. Plus, when lots of people are blasting their AC during heat waves, it puts extra strain on the power grid and can lead to outages.

To resolve these issues, people have begun turning towards natural home cooling methods.

What is Natural Home Cooling?
Did you know AC is responsible for up to 43% of energy usage in the U.S. on hot days? Heating and cooling systems release more than half a billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere, further driving climate change, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Not only is air conditioning bad for the environment, but because energy doesn’t come cheap, it’s bad for the budget too.

Natural home cooling involves passive and low-energy methods to keep your home cool without using too much energy.

Preventing Leaks
Cool air will easily escape in a home that isn’t properly sealed and insulated, allowing for heat to sneak its way in.

By adding insulation to your attic floor, you can keep hot attic air from leaching into the rest of your home. Furthermore, to keep your attic cool and prevent heat from accumulating and heating your home, install a low-cost attic fan, which will keep your attic space well-ventilated without using too much energy.

Paint Job
Darker homes retain more heat than lighter ones, which can cause your home to heat up faster. Therefore, the next time your thinking of repainting the exterior of your home, opt for a lighter color to stay cool.

Landscaping
Well-thought-out landscaping can do wonders for home cooling, while poor landscaping can make the heat even worse.

Here are some tips when considering landscaping for natural home cooling: 

  • Place trees around the south and west sides of your to maximize shade during the summer.
  • If you live in a climate with cold winters, plant deciduous trees so that your home still receives ample sunlight in the winter.
  • Plant small trees, shrubs, and bushes around the perimeter of your home to shade it from sunlight.
  • Never plant a thick wall of trees and bushes around your home as this will trap heat.
  • Vines can also be used to provide shading. Place vines on trellises at least six feet from the wall of your home.
  • Always opt for native plants.

Shade
There are other ways to block out sun besides landscaping that can be used to keep your home even cooler. 

  • Drapes, blinds, and curtains: Rather than letting in all of that hot sunlight, block it out with light-colored drapes, blinds, or curtains. When you leave a room, close the curtains to keep the sun out.
  • Shade screens are installed on the exterior of windows and are designed to block the sun from hitting the window and heating it up.

Ventilation
Natural ventilation relies on wind and breeze effect to cool a home. A whole house fan facilities this ventilation. The whole house fan causes warm air to vacate the home through a window while drawing cooling air.

Check out the many whole house fan options we have at WholeHouseFan.com

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