Summer has become quite suffocating now and the scorching sun rays are making our day to day lives really difficult. Not just outside, but there are many homes that literally become a furnace in the summer months, more so if you stay on the top floors. Keeping your home cool is going to be a big challenge in this hot and humid summer, especially if you don’t have air conditioner. Although, most households have air conditioner facilities but you can’t keep the air conditioner on all the time, it needs some rest too. Moreover, if you keep it on for too long all through the summer season, the electricity costs will go to extreme limits that may not be possible to be afforded by many of us. So, it is better to think of alternative ways to keep your home cool that are easy, effective and are natural.
If you are tired of scorching heat and looking for ways to keep your home cool without air conditioning, then here’s the post worth checking. Today in this post, I am sharing a few quick and simple ways to keep your home cool naturally without air conditioning.
You cannot do anything with the outside weather except to protect yourself from the sun as much as possible. But as far as your home is concerned, there are some easy ways that’ll help you to keep your home cool naturally.
Home is by far the safest place where you can relax and take enough rest but the high temperature in the summer months can make things really difficult inside your home as well. The most difficult situation occurs when you want to open the windows to let the fresh air in, but you are unable to do so because of the excessive heat outside. This also makes the inner air of your room very unhygienic and suffocating.
As per this report, published by Government of India, the maximum temperature has increased by over 1 degree Celsius as compared to early decades of 20th century. And not only India, the increase in maximum temperature is a global concern. Obviously our modern lifestyle is to be blamed, but that’s not a solution. The ideal solution is to look for alternate and natural ways to keep your home cool without air conditioning. And that’s what we are going to learn today. I am sharing a few tips and ideas that’ll help you to keep your home cool naturally.
So, are you ready to explore the he tips and ideas to keep your home cool naturally?
I heard you saying yes.
Let’s dive down.
How to keep your home cool naturally without AC
The heat in this summer has becomes life threatening. Most of the schools here in West Bengal have extended their summer holidays by over a week or so due to rise in temperature. Exposure to access heat increases the risk of sun stroke and several other health problems. Unfortunately, there is hardly anything that we can do about rising temperature outside. But there ways to keep your home cool from inside and that is what we are discussing below.
Here are the 9 best ways to keep your home cool naturally without air conditioning.
Air purifying plants
Well, one of the reasons why the temperature in the summer months is increasing on an alarming rate is the huge cutting of trees all over the world. So obviously, keeping more plants in your home mostly that purifies air is one of the easiest ways to keep your home cool naturally.
Here is a list of some of the best plants that can help you keep your home cool naturally:
Everyone knows about Aloe Vera mostly because of its medicinal benefits both in terms of health and beauty. But, very less of you must be acquainted with the fact that if you keep an aloe plant in your home, it can control the surrounding temperature and prevent your home from getting overheated.
The other plant that is great in this purpose is the snake plant. If you can place it in your home strategically, it will help you a lot. It is one plant that does not take away oxygen and instead it emits it. So, if you keep it in your bedroom or any other room, it will keep the space cool and fresh.
You can keep an Areca Palm tree as it helps in getting rid of benzene, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde which makes it the perfect humidifier for your home.
Another option that you can go for is fig tree or ficus tree that improves the quality of air and helps keep the surrounding temperature naturally cool.
Nasa has already declared fern trees to be one of the most effective air purifying plants. So, you may use it to keep your home surrounding cool as well.
The last option is of Golden Pothos that keeps the air cool and purified. Moreover, it requires very little light and minimum care, so it is the perfect option to keep your home very cool without much effort.
Keep your blinds and curtains closed
Since the outside temperature is too much, it is a good thing if you keep your blinds and curtains closed. This will actually prevent your homes from getting overheated. Otherwise if you keep the curtains and blind open, then it will trap the outside heat and make your home a furnace. Thus, with less sunlight and heat entering your home, the rooms will remain darker and hence cooler.
However, in this summer months, I recommend you to go for blackout curtains. This is really good as these curtains have the property of blocking the sunlight completely which in turn keeps your home naturally insulated. And, as per Consumer Reports, if you go for curtains of neutral colors having white plastic backings, then that will reduce the heat gain of your home by 33%. Hence, you can easily adopt these easiest ways to keep your home cool naturally.
Cover small vents with wet clothes
Keeping the doors and windows closed is not enough all the time as most of the house has small vents that can easily let the hot humid air get in. So, for full benefits, make sure that the small air vents are closed properly. And, to intensify the benefits, use clothes that are freshly dipped in icy cool water. This trick will enable the hot humid air of outside to turn into cool, soothing ones.
Let in the night breeze
In most parts of the world, the temperature cools once the sun sets, so make sure you take advantage of the cool outside air at night. For, this you can keep your windows open throughout the night. You can also set up the fans in a strategic position which will create a wind tunnel that will force the cross breeze. This will act as proper ventilation and keep your rooms cool.
However, you have to be mindful to close the windows and the blinds before the outside temperature starts rising in the morning.
Use the exhaust fans
Every house must have an exhaust fan especially in the bathroom and in the kitchen and you must use them to your advantage. Exhaust fans take out the inside hot air and keeps the inner temperature comparatively cool. Now, cooking makes the inner temperature of your home rise and so after you complete cooking, never forget to switch on the kitchen exhaust fans for a few minutes.
Same goes with the fans in the bathroom as well. Every time, you take a steamy shower, please do switch on the fans.
Use cotton bed sheets
Switching your bedding sheets not just freshens up the entire room but it also helps in keeping the room cool. While fleece blankets or flannel sheets are good for insulation, cotton is by far the best choice. This is because it is easy to breathe and stay cool for a long time. For added benefits, you may go for buckwheat pillow as the hulls have a natural air space in between them that will not hold on the heat of your body like the other conventional pillows do.
Let the ceiling fans rotate counter clockwise
Most of the ceiling fans can be adjusted and it needs to be adjusted on a seasonal basis as per requirements. In the summer months, make them run in counter clockwise direction at top speed. This is because it will create a wind-chill breeze effect that will make the rooms far cooler than it does in normal times.
Avoid incandescent lights
Summer is the perfect time to get rid of the incandescent lights as they waste around 90% energy and increases your electricity bills just to emit heat. It can also make your rooms hotter. So, switch to CFL’s or other compact fluorescent lamps to keep your home naturally cool.
However, it is best if you can keep your lights switched off when you do not need them. This will save enough energy and lower the electricity bills as well as keep your room temperature cool. The same goes for the other electronics devices and appliances as well. Switch it off, when not in use.
Color your roof with lighter shades
See, you already know that it is preferable to wear lighter colors of clothes especially white in the summer months instead of the darker shades as the light colors help to reflect the ultraviolet rays of the sun and limit the absorption of the heat. Now, use your brains and apply the same trick in your home.
Since, it is the roof that absorbs the maximum outside heat, color it with white. You may opt for lighter shades in the rest of the building as well. This, if done in every household will be a step forward in fighting the problem of global warming and also in curbing the consumption of energy.
Some other tips to beat the summer heat
Those who stay in flats and live on the topmost floors, they can do nothing other than opting for the above-mentioned ways to keep their home cool. But, those of you who own a big home with two-three floors, please stay downstairs as much as possible during the day. This is because; the lower floors are cooler than the upper floors. Hence, shift the important items that you need on a daily basis to the downstairs so that you need not rush upstairs every time. Well, I know that it may not be convenient always, but just in case, if it suits you.
Keep your own body temperature cool. You must be wondering, how it is linked to cooling the home temperature but the fact is, if you are cool from inside, it will automatically enable you to survive the hot temperature outside. This is the trick that ancient men and women followed when there were no fans or ac’s to help them beat the summer heat.
Drink water frequently and also take the help of iced drinks sometimes. Wrap cold clothes on your neck and wrist and relax yourself often by taking cool showers. Also wear soothing clothes of lighter shades.
And lastly, if you feel hot when you are on bed, try keeping container of cool water by your bedside and dip your feet inside the water whenever you feel too hot from inside.
The bottom line
Due to so much of pollution, cutting of trees etc. the temperature is increasing on a fast pace which is making summers intolerable in most humid parts of the world. The day time gets literally unbearable as it is the time where the sun is high above in the sky. While staying indoors is the safest option to keep yourself protected from the scorching heat, it is practically impossible for a huge majority of people who have to go out daily for a living. I suggest them to take umbrellas every time they go out.
But, if you consider the present weather conditions in the recent years, this outside temperature not only affects you when you go out but it also makes your inside home temperature hot and humid. Now, our home is the only place where we get to relax and if that also becomes a furnace, then surviving through the summer months will get really difficult.
Even if most modern homes have the air conditioners but that is also a machine which may fail anytime. Moreover, it cannot be afforded by all and so the best option for us is to adopt easy ways to keep the home temperatures naturally cool.
I have already talked about some of the best ways to keep your home cool without using air conditioning. I have myself tried some of these hacks and it helps keeping my home comparatively cooler.
Apart from trying these natural ways to keep your home cool this summer, try to keep your own body temperature cool. Well, this may not be directly linked with home cooling but it does keep you relaxed and safe from the summer heat. This will not just help when you are at home but will also benefit you in beating the outside heat. I know that summer is getting unbearable but you can resistit with proper strategies and precautions.
Until, then, stay safe, stay cool and follow my website for daily interesting and useful posts and learn how to leave a healthy and life.
If you are tired of scorching heat and looking for ways to keep your home cool without air conditioning, then here’s the post worth checking. Today in this post, I am sharing a few quick and simple ways to keep your home cool naturally without air conditioning.
