Comments on: Keeping Your House Cool Without Air Conditioning http://needlecloud.com/keeping-your-house-cool-without-air-conditioning/ living within my means Wed, 21 Apr 2010 12:22:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Jasmine http://needlecloud.com/keeping-your-house-cool-without-air-conditioning/comment-page-1/#comment-93 Jasmine Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:02:59 +0000 http://needlecloud.com/?p=573#comment-93 Thanks for the tips Thomas! I wish I could hang curtains on the outside or put up some awnings. We live in a condo building so unfortunately we're a little restricted on what we can do to the outside of our place. But when we do replace our blinds I'll look into wooden ones or thermal curtains. Thanks for the tips Thomas! I wish I could hang curtains on the outside or put up some awnings. We live in a condo building so unfortunately we’re a little restricted on what we can do to the outside of our place. But when we do replace our blinds I’ll look into wooden ones or thermal curtains.

]]> By: Thomas Winther http://needlecloud.com/keeping-your-house-cool-without-air-conditioning/comment-page-1/#comment-90 Thomas Winther Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:42:43 +0000 http://needlecloud.com/?p=573#comment-90 An important thing to remember regarding ceiling fans is to run them so they blow air down when it's hot. This creates a cooling breeze. In the winter, they should be run in the other direction, so they suck the cooler air up from the floor, push it upwards and force the warmer air under the ceiling down. For your south-facing windows, there are a number of things you can do: 1. Provide extra shade with a vertical overhang over the windows (pergolas, awnings, detachable shading 'devices'). The sun will always shine at an angle on south facing windows, never horizontally onto them, which is why overhangs work well while still letting some light in. 2. Put blinds or curtains on the outside of the window. Interior window coverings will block up to 65% of the heat, while exterior coverings will block up to 95%. There are relatively few really hot days where I live, so I just hang a white bedsheet outside the windows when needed. It makes the difference between excruciatingly hot and acceptable. 3. Use curtains instead of blinds - preferrably thermal backed ones. Curtains block more heat than blinds. 4. If you have metal blinds, replace them with wooden ones. Metal conducts more heat than wood. These are the things I can think of at the moment, but I wrote a series about green home cooling a few weeks back. I'm sure you could find some tips you could use there: http://www.renewablesathome.com/energy-conservation/green-home-cooling-mini-series .-= Thomas Winther´s last blog ..<a href="http://www.renewablesathome.com/why-go-green/how-to-green-the-world-by-running-your-mouth" rel="nofollow">How to green the world by running your mouth</a> =-. An important thing to remember regarding ceiling fans is to run them so they blow air down when it’s hot. This creates a cooling breeze. In the winter, they should be run in the other direction, so they suck the cooler air up from the floor, push it upwards and force the warmer air under the ceiling down.

For your south-facing windows, there are a number of things you can do:
1. Provide extra shade with a vertical overhang over the windows (pergolas, awnings, detachable shading ‘devices’). The sun will always shine at an angle on south facing windows, never horizontally onto them, which is why overhangs work well while still letting some light in.
2. Put blinds or curtains on the outside of the window. Interior window coverings will block up to 65% of the heat, while exterior coverings will block up to 95%. There are relatively few really hot days where I live, so I just hang a white bedsheet outside the windows when needed. It makes the difference between excruciatingly hot and acceptable.
3. Use curtains instead of blinds – preferrably thermal backed ones. Curtains block more heat than blinds.
4. If you have metal blinds, replace them with wooden ones. Metal conducts more heat than wood.

These are the things I can think of at the moment, but I wrote a series about green home cooling a few weeks back. I’m sure you could find some tips you could use there: http://www.renewablesathome.com/energy-conservation/green-home-cooling-mini-series
Thomas Winther´s last blog ..How to green the world by running your mouth My ComLuv Profile

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