QWhether you can’t or don’t want to use an air conditioner at home, there are common sense solutions to reduce the temperature of a home. “These reflexes may be sufficient in most cases to keep your home at an acceptable temperature and do without air conditioning,” says the ecological transition agency, Ademe, which has published a dedicated guide, “Hot outside, cool inside”. The stakes are high: air conditioning represents about 10% of global electricity consumption and therefore contributes significantly to the aggravation of global warming. Here are our seven tips for living well without air conditioning.
1. Ventilate, but not just anyhow
Everyone knows that you have to ventilate, but you still have to do it well. Watch your thermometer and your weather app: as soon as the temperature outside drops below the temperature inside your home, let in some fresh air. Ventilate all night if possible (watch out for gales, showers or even burglaries, etc.), and in any case, from early in the morning, even if it means setting an alarm clock at 5:30 a.m. to open additional windows before going to bed.
If the wind is insufficient, you can place a fan in front of the window, facing inwards, to create a healthy draft. Another tip to maximize air circulation: if your home has at least two floors, create a chimney effect by opening windows on several levels. Thus, the hot air will rise to escape through the highest openings, while the bottom will draw in cool air which will gradually diffuse towards the floors. Ventilation may seem trivial, especially when temperatures remain high at night, but starting a hot day with a few degrees less in the accommodation can change everything.
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2. Caulk yourself
As soon as the outside temperature exceeds the temperature inside your home, close the windows and shutters. If you leave your accommodation during the day, close all the shutters. If you stay in your accommodation and want to keep a little light, alternate the closures to, at least, hide direct sunlight. But the thermal insulation will be better if all the shutters are completely closed, since the layer of air between the shutter and the window acts as an additional insulator.
If your stairwell or landing is less warm, open your front door to breathe in some fresh air, again being careful of burglaries. If you have them, deploy blinds and exterior protection to limit the exposure of your walls and windows to the sun. Light colors are your allies: they reflect light and heat. Use a fan if you wish, but there’s no need to leave it on when you leave the room: it only moves the air and has no effect on the temperature.
3. Humidify your home
The increase in the humidity level allows the temperature to drop slightly, and the heat felt is significantly more bearable. To do this, dry laundry, sheets or towels, either after washing or by wetting them specifically for this purpose, or mop the floor (without household product, if the floor is already clean). Please note that some floors do not like being wet too often. Less dry air also has the advantage of being kinder to your body: your skin, eyes and throat will thank you.
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4. Track indoor heat sources
Some household appliances are your enemies when it’s hot. A fridge, a freezer, a video projector, a TV screen or a computer emit a lot of heat. Completely turn off non-essential devices (avoid sleep mode), and isolate others. For example, close the kitchen door so that the heat from the fridge and freezer, not to mention the oven or hotplates, does not spread elsewhere.
If you telecommute, you can close the door to the work room to create another cool space in the accommodation, which you will be happy to find during breaks or in the evening.
5. Surround yourself with greenery and trees
Our cities bear the full brunt of heat waves because they are concreted, tarmacked and mowed down to the ground. The presence of trees and vegetation greatly reduces the temperature by creating islands of coolness and avoiding the accumulation of heat. It is therefore important to let trees grow where possible, as well as to limit the mowing of grass by creating large patches of tall grass, as gardeners in urban parks increasingly do.
This measure also has the advantage of preserving the habitat of insects, many species of which are threatened with extinction by human activity. “If your house is surrounded by concrete (terrace, paths, flowerbeds, etc.), you will have more difficulty taking advantage of the cool night air to cool your home,” explains Ademe.
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6. Choose your accommodation well
If you have to move soon, be ruthless about thermal standards. Insulation has been designed for centuries to retain heat in winter. But the days of thick-walled houses that keep the summer cool are over. In modern buildings with thin walls, insulation must also be provided for summer comfort, which is only very rarely the case, the fault of badly thought out standards and careless promoters.
If possible, visit the accommodation after a hot day: some accommodation, even among the most modern, are real ovens in the summer with indoor temperatures exceeding the maximum outdoors (in this case, it is better to ventilate all day than to caulk).
7. Get used to the idea that the world has changed
It is now necessary to live with more often high temperatures, rather than trying to keep housing cool all summer with the help of high-tech appliances that pollute and consume energy. A room at 28 degrees at night is not “unlivable”, even for a baby or an elderly person… If an air conditioner is nevertheless necessary, for fragile people for example, it is imperative to take the time to properly choose it. “Do not buy air conditioning in an emergency to deal with an exceptional situation, because it may prove to be expensive to use and ill-suited to your needs”, recalls Ademe.
In addition to the obvious criteria of performance and energy efficiency, it is important to take into account noise pollution. Not only do your neighbors need to be able to continue to sleep with the window open, but you too could experience the nuisance of a noisy outside block.
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