Have you ever had the feeling that our Australian summers keep getting hotter and hotter? Whether it’s climate change caused by human activity or not, the fact remains that we are forced to crank up the AC to the max more and more often. This wastes a lot of energy and it is everything but eco-friendly so there have to be better ways to cool down your home. Here are just some of the methods that will keep your home cool and help you save hundreds of dollars on autumnal electricity bills.
Containment of Hot Air
Do you know how people in hazmat suits form quarantines in a TV show about the breakout of a deadly virus? Well, hot air plagues your home in a similar way. Containing it in unused rooms is a pretty efficient tactic. Just like with cutting costs of warming the house up during a cold spell, determine which rooms are worthy of cooling down.
Once you settle on the exact number of rooms (the living room, the bathroom, the bedroom, etc.), close all the doors to keep the hot air out and help to keep your home cool. Letting the unused section of your house heat up in the punishing Aussie sun is well-worth preserving the coolness of the air in the rooms you do stay in.
Ditch the AC to a Ceiling Fan
In order not to get tempted to turn the air-conditioning on, you can replace it altogether. Don’t worry; you will not be left defenceless against the heat because a ceiling fan will substitute the AC unit 1-to-1. It will require experts to install it but once it’s up there, a ceiling fan will effectively cool down a room and it won’t send your utility bill through the roof.
If they are large enough and they spin at fast speeds, ceiling fans have the power to cool down the entire room circulating fresh air throughout it at the same time. Since they use far less electricity to operate than an AC unit, they can be considered eco-friendly.
Tending to the Window Area
Another solution is to take care of the sunlight problem at its source, in the window area. This is how most of the heat will end up inside your house so shutting the blinds or adding a black film will help reduce the amount of light that enters your house. However, these solutions might not be appealing to the eye, as you need to add some style to your fight against the bothering Australian sun.
In order to fight off the sunlight in style, you need external awnings. They can be installed to a façade of a house and even an apartment building. When you find an awning store in Brisbane that sells external awnings, be sure to enquire about the different colours the cloth is made from. They can be matched with the hue of the façade to form a single architectural unit.
Changing the Sheets More Often
You probably knew that marital bliss can be found between the sheets but so can an escape from the summer heat as well. Adopting a strategy in which you change the bed sheets more often can help you cool down overnight. Firstly, a fresh set of sheets feels cooler to the touch and secondly, cotton allows the skin to breathe. Add one of those ice-touch pillows that help bring down the temperature of your head and you’ll be in for not-so-hot summer slumbers.
Bringing Body, Not Air Temperature Down
Changing the sheets regularly is not directed at bringing the temperature inside the house down but rather regulating the body temperature of the inhabitants. This is a solution that you can resort to if you lack proper means to cool the structure itself. Wearing light summer apparel, taking frequent iced drinks, and rubbing your wrists with water are ideal ways not to overheat your body.
As you have seen from our examples, to keep your home cool requires a lot of resources. However, an icy-cool interior of the house is possible if you address all the weak spots, like the window area. Add a ceiling fan and a glass of cold lemonade to the picture and you will stay cool during the summer months without overspending.
