13 Free or
Cheap Ways To Keep Your Home Cool This
Summer
1. Open Your
Windows
When the
outside air is cooler than the inside, it’s foolish to
keep using electricity for something nature can do for
you instead. We have two separate indoor/outdoor
thermometer setups (one for each floor of our house) so
we know exactly when we reach that tipping point. When
the temperature outside is starting to drop and has sunk
at least one degree less than the inside temperature, we
turn off the air conditioner and throw open the
windows.
Nothing is
more satisfying than getting a breeze of fresh air after
having your home closed up all
day.
2. Turn On the Ceiling
Fans
While a
ceiling fan won’t make your room cooler, it will
definitely make it feel cooler by
speeding sweat evaporation and they cost far less to run
than your air conditioner. If you don’t have ceiling
fans already, they’re not very hard to install – I’ve
added or rehung five in our house so
far.
Once your
fans are in, make sure the fan is set to spin in the
correct direction: You want the air blowing down in
summer and up in winter. If you’re not sure which way
the air is moving, look at the blades as they spin: If
the leading edge is higher than the trailing, it is
pushing the air down. Honestly, we never turn our
ceiling fans off whether we have the windows open or the
air conditioner on. It’s nice to have air blowing over
you and making you feel cooler.
3. Put In an Attic
Fan
We’re having
a contractor friend come over soon and give us an
estimate for installing an attic fan and a timer. When I
was growing up, I loved it when we turned on the attic
fan; the cool outside air rushing in the windows and the
hum of the fan made sleeping very
comfortable.
An
attic van gives you the combined benefits of moving air
(like a ceiling fan) and pulling in the cooler air from
outside. Of course, a prerequisite for running this is
opening your windows, so the best thing is wait until
after dusk to open your windows and then set the timer
to run at least until after you’re deep asleep. It’s an
investment that can easily pay for itself in a couple of
years.
4. Shut the
Blinds
On
hot summer days, the sun is your worst enemy. The last
thing you want to do is have your air conditioner
running full blast to offset the increase heat from the
sunlight pouring in your windows. By closing the blinds,
you’ll still let in enough light to see by, but you’ll
reflect back the rest.
5. Run Your Furnace
Fan
Many
thermostats will allow you to tell the fan to run
without initiating the furnace or air conditioner. By
turning on your furnace fan, you cause the air to be
circulated throughout the house, balancing out any cold
or hot spots so that you whole house feels more
comfortable. An added benefit is that it will trap any
potential allergens that have been introduced by opening
your windows – just make sure to regularly check the
furnace filter and replace it when it’s dark enough to
block light passing through.
6. Install a Programmable
Thermostat
It
doesn’t make much sense to cool your home while you’re
gone, but it’s hard to remember to tweak your thermostat
every day before you leave for work. Program your
thermostat to go up by five degrees about 30 minutes or
so before you leave and have it come back to your
“normal” temperature a half-hour before you return. For
added savings, program it to also raise the termostat by
two or three degrees through the night – you’re unlikely
to notice the change in your
sleep.
7. Turn Up The Thermostat A
Degree Or Two
It’s
recommended that you set your thermostat at 78 degrees
during the summer if you have central air conditioning.
It’s a pleasant temperature, but isn’t necessarily the
cheapest setting. If you can handle it, raise your
thermostat by one or two degrees and realize a savings
of about six to seven percent for each degree above
78.
8. Close Unused
Vents
I
don’t know about your house or apartment, but there are
some infrequently-used rooms in our house. If you’re not
going to be in a particular room very much or very
often, consider closing the vent in that room so you’re
not cooling dead space. That will cause more air to come
out of the other open vents, potentially allowing you to
add some cooling to a room that wasn’t getting it
otherwise.
Note: I
wouldn’t recommend completely shutting the vents in a
basement since the air conditioner helps remove humidity
and you don’t want to end up with a soggy
basement.
9. Turn Off the
Lights
This isn’t
really a suggested limited to summer, but it’s most
appropriate now that it’s heating up. If you don’t
need a
light on, turn it off! All light bulbs generate heat as
a byproduct of producing light (even though compact
fluorescents run cooler than incandescent) and why would
you want to add heat to the summer
mix?
What light
is filtering in through your closed blinds should be
sufficient to get you around the house during the day.
When night falls, turn on only the lights you need only
when you need them. Not only will you save electricity,
but you’ll also do your air conditioner a
favor.
10. Hold Off On
Cooking
I
love chicken salad. In the summer, there is no meal I
like more – it can be eaten chilled, you don’t have to
cook anything, and it’s quick to prepare. Any time you
turn on that stove while your air conditioner is
running, you’re taking money out of your own
pockets.
During the
summer, do what you can to avoid turning on the stove
and, if you must turn it on, turn it on in the late
evening and (preferably) after you’ve opened the windows
for the night.
11. Leave Laundry Until
Nighttime
Like a huge,
spinning oven, your clothes dryer puts out a decent
amount of heat. Much of that heat will be vented
outside, but some will still leak into your house. The
later you wait to turn it on, the better chance you have
of not working against your air conditioner as much. If
you live somewhere that has time-based metering of
electricity, try to wait until the lower evening rate
kicks in.
Of
course, nothing beats line-drying in terms of
electricity usage, but if your subdivision is like mine
and bans outdoor clothes lines, running your dryer at
night is the next best option.
12. Use Your Lowest
Level
When I go
down to the basement to grab something out of our
storage, I’m quick to notice that it’s at least 10
degrees cooler down there than our first floor. And,
likewise, when I go upstairs to put away laundry in the
bedroom closet, I can see that it’s five degrees warmer
up there. I would love to spend most of our time in the
basement, but we haven’t yet scraped together the funds
to finish it as a living space, so we’re stuck on our
main level. If you have a basement, don’t hesitate to
take advantage of its stable temperatures all year – I
know we will be once we finish
ours.
13. Unplug/Switch Off Unused
Electronics
Not
only are those wall warts eating electricity when
they’re not in use, they’re also converting some of that
power into heat. By unplugging everything you can and
putting the rest on switchable surge protectors, you can
potentially save yourself a lot of money and unnecessary
heat.
Bonus: Turn Off the
TV
I
don’t know about you, but our TV can really heat up!
It’s a seven year-old 27? CRT and our entertainment
center heats up whenever it’s on for more than a few
hours. If you’re not really watching something and just
have it on for background noise, you can save a lot of
money and heat by switching on a radio instead. As an
added bonus, switching off the TV allows you to do other
things, like go outside and enjoy the cool evening air
first-hand instead of using any variety of cooling
devices to bring that air to
you!
THANK YOU TO
ALL OUR COLLABORATORS
The
Ability Center wants to
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(or) organizations for the great contributions they have
made to the Center helping to fulfill our
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Rel
·
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Oro Care Center
·
Chris Van
Horn
·
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Little of the United Way of Southwestern New Mexico
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Luna
County Commission
on Aging
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Living
Resource
Center of
Albuquerque
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Juan
Center for
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Security Administration
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Charitable Foundation
·
The New
Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Persons
·
The
New
Mexico Division of Vocational
Rehabilitation Area 3 Office
·
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Mexico Governor’s Commission on
Disability
·
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Valley, in Las Cruces, NM
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EVERYONE BE SAFE THIS HOLIDAY WEEKEND
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