A house-cooling strategy
July 15th, 2008,Though the day is beautiful, the news is not: a poor economy, a deflating housing market, and wrenching changes forced by high fuel prices. Add to that this background noise: a lack of action by our leaders on the most important issues (federal debt, health care, climate change, etc.) and a feeling that the United States has passed the peak of its power and is in decline.
However, I’m taking some small actions today that buoy my spirits. They involve my energy-efficient strategy to keep the house cool in hot weather. They aren’t perfect and they won’t work for everyone or every situation, but they generally work for us. Here are the steps I take:
- Open the windows at night to let cool air in
- Close the windows during the day when the outside temperature is higher than the indoor temperature
- Close basement air vents, open air vents elsewhere in house
- Keep the dehumidifier in the basement running
- Turn on the furnace fan to circulate air through the house
- Use other fans as necessary
This strategy moves cooler air in the basement and ground level up to the top floor. The other day it kept our house at 80 degrees or cooler on a 95-degree day.
It’s a bit like a thrifty groundsource cooling solution: naturally cool air in the basement helps to cool the rest of the house. It may also work to some extent in houses without basements.
It may work better in our house than in others, because we share walls with neighboring townhouses. But still, I think it can help many people to minimize their air conditioner use.
July 15th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
I love these kinds of things to help reduce use of energy and lower costs.
Another thing to consider is how much heat we are building up inside
the house by using appliances and computers. I no longer leave my
computer running when I leave to do other things. I minimize my
time heating up foods by using the warm up time in the oven,
turning off burners during the last few minutes of cooking things
like soup because once hot, they will continue to cook for 15 minutes
or longer depending on your pan and type of heat source.
This is also true of casseroles in the oven, they will continue to cook
for fifteen minutes or more without the heat on.
You can cook boiled eggs by putting the eggs in tap water at room temp,
bring it to a boil, then turn off the heat source, and let the eggs sit for
15-20 minutes, depending on the size and number of eggs, it’s not all
that crucial, and you will get tender cooked eggs.
Turn off lights and TV when not in use, and try to use natural daylight
to read and do close work. It’s better for your eyes, imho, and saves more
energy. Pull out all those plugs to small radios, toasters, hair dryers and curlers, shavers, and battery chargers when not in use, they do create a
bit of heat and expense for no good reason.
Use cold water for lightly soiled clothes and skip the dryer. Do full loads, and
not just the same pair of jeans over and over again all by themselves.
Wear light fabrics and drink plenty of water to keep hydrated. Take a cool shower, skip the humidity as it makes you feel warmer. Have fun doing these extra little things and you will find it will soon become second nature.
July 16th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Thank you for the great ideas, Bright! They really make sense.
July 16th, 2008 at 9:00 am
Karen Youso’s StarTribune column dealt with this home-cooling strategy (available for a limited time online):
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/homegarden/25418444.html?location_refer=$urlTrackSectionName
This excerpt reminded me to run the fan only intermittently. Fortunately, we had a timer installed on a furnace fan that lets us control when it runs, with the ability to do so in 15-minute increments:
“Continuous operation of the furnace fan as a solution to your problem can be expensive. The typical furnace fan in most homes uses a good deal of electricity. Newer furnaces with variable-speed fan motors can save up to 80 percent and may be the best option for continual fan option. If your fan isn’t one of these, then run it intermittently.”