Cool Your House with Shade Trees and Window Shades
It’s hard to get anything done if you’re sitting in a sweltering room in your home. But you don’t want to run your air conditioner, and although fans cost less to run than an air conditioner, they still cost money to run, too.
Well, there are some things you can do to reduce the heat inside your home.
First off, if you live in a house, consider planting some shade trees on the east and west sides of your home. As long as you’re planting deciduous trees (those that lose their leaves in winter) you can even shade the south side of your home as well. Typically, people help heat their homes naturally during the winter by allowing the south sun to come in. With deciduous trees, you keep the sun out during the summer, and let it in during the winter.
Plant shade trees or shrubs around your picnic table or porch, or, depending on how much land you have, plant a double row of trees to make a nice, cool soothing walkway, with perhaps a picnic table in the middle.
If you don’t want to plant trees, there are other things you can do to let the sunlight into your home, but keep the heat out.
Window curtains may shade the light, but they do very little to keep the heat out of your home. If you can’t afford to purchase new windows that are treated to keep out the heat, consider applying solar screens. They’ll serve the same purpose, and they’re removable during winter if installed for this purpose.
Solar screens should be applied to every window in your home that gets any amount of sun. They allow the light of the sun to enter, but keep the heat trapped outside, which of course keeps your home that much cooler, and thus necessitate less use of fan or air conditioner.
You can purchase solar screens commercially, or purchase the components and put them together yourself. In addition to keeping out the heat, solar screens will also reduce fading of your interior furnishings, carpets, and books.
