How do I cool my home for less energy?

As the temperature rises, so does the cost of cooling your home, especially if you use an air conditioner. There is no doubt that the most effective method to keep your home cool during the summer period is to use an air conditioner but there are many other effective options that can help reduce your energy use whilst helping you save on your energy bills.

Fans are a great investment, as they are good way to beat the heat whilst reducing your energy consumption. A fan can make a room feel 6 or 7 degrees cooler, and even the most power-hungry fan costs less than an air conditioner to run. Ceiling fans are best, but a good portable fan can be just as effective.

Window shades, drapes, or blinds are a timeless method of keeping a home cooler as it reflects the heat away from the house. Close blinds, shades and draperies facing the sun to keep the sun’s heat out and also to help fans or air conditioners work more efficiently.
Reducing the amount of internal heat within the home created by appliances and electronic devices will help you to use less energy to stay cool. Unless you absolutely need to, steer clear of using the incandescent lights and heat-generating appliances on very hot days.
Avoid heat-generating activities, such as cooking on hot days or during the hottest part of the day. Cook outside on a barbeque instead of inside on a stove top or if you must cook inside, remember to use your range hood fan to vent the hot air out of your house. By reducing the amount of heat in your home, you will use less energy to cool it.
Minimize mid-day washing and drying clothes or showering as this increases humidity which makes room air feel warmer. And when this cannot be avoided, turn on ventilating fans to help extract warm, moist air.

In a research recently done by The UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering discovered that Solar Photovoltaic panel has the ability to cool the temperature of the house during day time and insulate the house during night time. This happens because Solar Panel can act as the roof shade so that the heat from the sun doesn’t go straight away to the roof, while the solar panel itself absorbs the heat. The research analyzed that solar panels are able to reduced the amount of heat reaching the roof by about 38 percent while at night the panels helps to provide warmer temperature as it would also keep in and hold the accumulated heat inside resulting reduction of heating costs in the winter