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The use of air conditioners is the most applied method in order to beat the heat. However, there are other methods that can keep your room cool and minimize the use of air conditioners that not only weighs heavily on your electricity bills but also proves to be an environmental no-no.

So here are certain environmental-friendly alternatives that you allow you to keep the air conditioner in storage and minimize sources of heat and remove built-up heat from inside.

Fans and Ceiling Fans

• Ceiling fans can make a room feel 6 or 7 degrees cooler, raise your thermostat setting, makes the air circulate within the room and save on electricity bill as even the most power consuming fan costs less than Rs 50 a month even if it is kept on for 12 hours a day. Ceiling fans are best, but a good portable fan can be very effective as well.
• You should remember that even mild air movement of 1 mph can make you feel three or four degrees cooler. Also make sure your ceiling fan is turned for summer - you should feel the air blown downward.

Shades, drapes, or blinds

• Remember that the best way to keep your home cool is to keep the heat out. So make use of white window shades, drapes, or blinds to reflect heat away from the house and close blinds, shades and draperies facing the sun to keep the sun’s heat out and help fans or air conditioners cool more efficiently.

Internal Heat

• Internal heat gain like use of appliances, electronic devices, and lighting, placing of TV, lamps etc near the air conditioner will make the latter run longer and work harder as it assumes the room is warmer than it really is.
• Turn off incandescent lights and heat-generating appliances when not used. Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents; they produce the same light but use a fifth the energy and heat.
• Use Exhaust Fan to vent the hot air out of your house when you are cooking. Reduction of internal heat will help you save energy on cooling your house.

Plants

• Plant trees or shrubs to shade air conditioning units, without blocking the airflow. A unit operating in the shade uses less electricity. Deciduous trees planted on the south and west sides will keep your house cool in the summer and allow the sunlight to warm the house during the winter. Three properly placed trees around a house, can save between Rs500 and Rs1500 annually in cooling and heating costs, and daytime air temperatures can be 3 degrees to 6 degrees cooler in tree-shaded neighborhoods.

Roof and Walls

• If you’ve got a flat roof, paint it with a specially formulated reflective paint or just paint it white. The reflective effect will help to keep the rooms under the flat roof much cooler.

Other things to remember

• Reduce indoor humidity. Minimize mid-day washing and drying clothes, showering, and cooking and if need be turn on ventilating fans to help extract warm, moist air.
• Avoid landscaping with lots of unshaded rock, cement, or asphalt on the south or west sides because it increases the temperature around the house and radiates heat to the house after the sun has set.
• Insulate non-insulated or under-insulated attics to 3 to 12 inches to cut cooling costs by 10%.