Keep Your Home Cool This Summer
Summer’s just around the corner and we are certainly looking forward to days at the beach, BBQs and cold drinks with friends. Undoubtedly with it comes the hot weather, air-conditioners on and increases in the power bills. There are many ways to keep cool at home without running up higher than normal energy bills. Here are a few ideas to try and keep the heat at bay this summer:
Shade Your Windows
Keeping the sun off your windows during summer is key to keeping your home cool. Shading can be provided by external shade blinds, shade cloth or trees. This simple strategy helps to reduce heat build-up in the house, increases comfort and defers the need for running the air-conditioning for a little while longer.
Why shade the glass? Did you know that for every one square metre of glass the sun directly hits, the heat is radiated inside by over 35%. That’s equivalent to a one-bar electric heater being on in the house for every square metre of glass the sun shines upon. Stopping that with shading devices can make a huge difference.
Fans First
Using fans to circulate the air produces a cooling effect on the skin of between 3 - 6 degrees. This helps you to feel cooler without having to use an air-conditioner. Depending on your local energy rates, fans cost about 1.5 cents an hour to run, whereas air-conditioners cost around 50 cents an hour upwards to run. Fans are a great way to put off turning on the air-con and much cheaper to run.
Let The Hot Air Out = Efficient cooling
If you have evaporative cooling, be sure to leave a few windows ajar. If you have a reverse cycle or refrigerated air-conditioner system, you’ll need to close off the area you are trying to cool while the system is on. Regularly check and clean the filters to ensure the system operates to maximum capacity.
Regardless of the type of system you have, consider increasing the temperature. Instead of having the temperature set at 20 degrees, set it to 24 degrees instead. It will still be cool, and for every 1 degree you save cooling, you could save up to 10% of the running cost.
The Combined Approach
To get really efficient cooling in your home, use a fan in conjunction with the air-conditioner. You can set the temperature on the air-conditioner higher, which will save on energy costs. With both running together, you’ll get a great cooling effect for less energy = less cost.
By implementing a few of these cooling tips, you should be able to keep your cool this summer without breaking the bank on energy bills.