Cooling your home is vital, but you must also consider your energy bills. There are many factors to consider when you want to cool your home while cutting energy bills. You can cool your home in two main ways: active and passive.
Active methods include making changes to your AC or installing ceiling fans. However, you can passively cool your home, too. Passive cooling trends to cut down on energy bills also aims to reduce the reliance on air conditioning and to use the home’s or sun’s natural features to ensure our homes remain cool while spending less on electricity.
The following are passive cooling ideas to consider:
Ventilation
Increasing the amount of ventilation in your home is an excellent idea for ensuring your home remains cool while reducing energy bills. Allowing more cool air into your home through more ventilation will significantly change.
You can face the ventilation in the direction of the wind so cold air can enter whenever there is wind.
Moreover, you only have to install the ventilation once, and they will cool your home with little to no intervention, which is why they are a passive cooling method.
Shut Blinds/Curtains
When the sunshine comes through a window, it will increase the temperature of the air in the room and cause the AC unit to work harder to cool the air leading to higher energy bills. Therefore, a passive approach to cooling your home is to shut all blinds or curtains in the sun’s direction.
The shades and curtains will prevent much of the sun’s heat from entering the room and ensure the AC does not have to work as hard to keep the room cool. Heavy and dark blinds or curtains will do the job best.
Reflective Blinds/Curtains
If you have to keep your windows open, you can keep your home cool with reduced energy bills using reflective blinds or curtains. They are better than regular blinds and curtains because they reflect the sun’s rays leading to a much cooler home and more efficient AC unit.Â
Solar reflective blinds are the best for reflective blinds as they reduce glare as well as light, plus they are durable. White curtains of plastic or impermeable fabric will do their best to reflect heat away from your home.
Open Windows at Night
The night air is cooler than day air, so even if it is hotter during the day, you should avoid opening the windows at all costs. Therefore, an excellent passive idea for cooling your home is to allow cool air into your home at night till dawn. You will then close the windows and doors in the morning to trap the cool air in your home.
As long as you have little to no air leaks, your home should be cooler than if you were to open the windows and doors during the hot summer days. The airflow will be minimal, but you will have a cooler home while spending less on energy bills.
Planting Shade
Finding some heat is the most natural action to take when feeling the heat on a sunny day. So, why not do the same for your house and you will have to do very little. Trees take time to grow, and there will be a lot of work in the beginning. However, if you can withstand the plating period, you can have a shade that will cool your home for the rest of your life.
It would be best to plant decorative trees all over your home, which is becoming more common as more people do their part to be environmentally conscious. The sunny side of the house should get enormous trees. Shade outside the windows is also a consideration to make. Plant now and reap massive rewards in the future.
Install Weather Tape
Spending less time and effort cooling your home would be best to ensure the cool air the AC produces does not escape your home.
Conclusion
Therefore, you should install weather tape in your home to prevent cool air from escaping and keep it in your home. It will also increase your AC’s efficiency. Use weather tape to seal any leaks in the windows and doors.
Evaluate your home to find anywhere cool air may escape and seal the leak with weather tape. The tape is relatively cheap, and after sealing the leaks, you can sit back and enjoy your home’s cool air.
Passive cooling involves ways to cool your home that save effort, time, and money. Planting shade, installing weather tape, increasing ventilation, and shutting blinds and curtains are excellent passive cooling ideas. Try them out and see how much of an effect they have on your energy bills.
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