If you’re someone who strives to do all that you can in order to make the environment a better place, we commend you for that. Not only does that mean you’re helping to keep the air cleaner and that you’re doing what you can in order to preserve our resources, but if you happen to have children inside of your home, your efforts are influencing them to make responsible choices as well.
Of course, we can understand that sometimes “being green” can pose a bit of a challenge. Especially when the temperature outside is at its most extreme. So, in the effort to help you remain eco-friendly while hopefully also saving you a few dollars in the process, we wanted to offer you three green cooling options for the summertime below:
Be Careful with Color
For starters, it’s a good idea to look at both the outside as well as the inside of your home to see what color everything is. Although initially, this might seem like a bit of an odd suggestion, here’s why we feel that it is such a good idea. Being that light colors reflect the sun’s rays and darker hues absorb them, we’re sure you can see that if you have a lot of darker shades on the exterior or interior of your home, that could ultimately make the rooms in your house warmer than you may want them to be. Something that you can do to make things a bit cooler is to first, consider painting your roof white. Secondly, think about painting the walls in your house a neutral or pastel color. You’ll start to feel the difference, almost immediately, if you do.
Be Aware of Your Surroundings
If you do decide to paint your roof, while you’re outside, here’s another tip: Plant some more trees and shrubs, especially in front of your windows. By doing so, not only will it help to beautify your landscape, but extra greenery also serves as a “buffer” to protect you from the sun’s extreme heat. Plus, as an added bonus, if you decide to plant something like an evergreen tree, it can also shield you from the harsh winds during the winter season too.
Be Conscious About Your Appliances
Pretty much all of us have had moments when after cooking in the kitchen, we found ourselves turning up our HVAC unit in order to cool the house down, contact Alek Air to make sure your HVAC unit is in great shape. The thing is, every time that we do that, we end up using more energy. Something that can prevent this from happening when it comes to cooking (especially in the summertime), is to opt to do it outside on a grill. And as it relates to things like your dishwasher’s dryer setting and your dryer for your clothes, how about letting your dishes and clothes air dry instead? Oh, and if it happens to be time to get a few new appliances or other items for the home (like perhaps maybe a ductless heat pump ), consider getting some that have an Energy Star label on them. They use less energy, which means they work more efficiently. So whether it’s your iron or stove or showerhead, you can get the job done quicker which will help to keep the rooms in your house much cooler. For more information on Energy Star items, visit EnergyStar.gov.
