Economically cool your home

As summer draws to a close, you might be expecting your latest energy bill to arrive in the mail any day now. After a slew of scorching hot days, you might not be surprised when the bill that arrives is larger than usual. Trying to economically keep your home cool is like walking a tight rope. There’s a fine line between blowing up the energy bill and keeping the temperature inside your home bearable.

A recent study in 2019 by Houzz & Home Australia found that 43% of renovating homeowners want to prioritise improving their energy efficiency. It can be done, and it doesn’t have to be at the expense of your own comfort. Read on for some ways you can keep your house cool and your energy bill low. 

1. Install solar panels 

While installing solar panels will mean incurring a cost in the beginning, in the long term, the benefits outway the expense. Having the panels means you are creating your own free energy from the sun. Sometimes this can be more enough to cover your entire bill and economically keep your home cool and other times the pannels certainly helps to alleviate a large portion of your bill. 

2. Ceiling fans

The old school way of cooling a space is also the cheapest. Ceiling fans are significantly cheaper to run than air conditioners, in fact they use less than 10% of the energy an air conditioner uses to run. They are perfect for warm temperatures, indoor and outdoor areas. 

3. Insulation

When building or renovating, don’t skimp on insulation. Insulation is not only integral for keeping the heat inside in winter, but it’s also crucial to block and shield outside heat in the summer.

4. Shading 

In the initial stages of planning before building a home, orientation is a key decision. The orientation of a house affects when the sun hits different parts of the house, and subsequently warming these room. 

If you are still having issues with unwanted direct sun entering your home. Firstly close the blinds, or consider upgrading your blinds. If there is still too much light entering then it’s time to consider installing awnings over the windows and doors. Doing so will block the direct sunlight and the heat that comes with it and only allow filtered light into your home.

5. Windows

Keeping your windows and doors closed during the most intensely hot part of the day stops the hot air moving through your home. When the air cools at night, open everything up to flush out the warm air trapped inside your home.

6. Avoid setting your air conditioner too low

It’s easy to desperately try to cool down by blasting the aircon on its lowest setting possible. However doing so actually makes the air conditioner work much, much harder and pushes your energy bill skyward.

7. Make the switch to LED lighting

If you’ve stood under a halogen light bulb then you’ve also felt the heat that they can throw. A simple switch to LED lighting can make a hot evening more bearable with the lights on. LED globes also last about five to tens times as long as their halogen counterparts.