{"id":14628,"date":"2012-07-18T10:17:02","date_gmt":"2012-07-18T16:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=14628"},"modified":"2012-07-18T10:17:02","modified_gmt":"2012-07-18T16:17:02","slug":"passive-home-cooling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/passive-home-cooling\/","title":{"rendered":"Save Money and Resources with Natural Home Cooling"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/p>\n The average price of electricity for homeowners has risen from 7.83 cents per kilowatt-hour in 1990 to 11.51 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2009. And since pretty much all types of energy have become more expensive in recent years<\/a>, it’s best if homeowners look for ways to reduce the costs of energy wherever they can.<\/p>\n Luckily, reducing the cost of energy for your home often means helping the environment: it’s a win-win situation! This is especially true when it comes to cooling your home. Air conditioning is one of the most energy-intensive items we use around the home, particularly since we usually don’t actually need it to get by<\/a>. Using natural cooling techniques in your home rather than constantly running the central A\/C is one of the easiest ways to go green and save green.<\/p>\n According to the Department of Energy\u2019s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy report<\/a>, the best way to naturally cool your home is through passive cooling. Essentially, passive cooling means that you use non-mechanical options for keeping the indoor temperature in your home at a comfortable level throughout the year. Passive cooling keeps heat from building up in the first place and they also circulates air to generate a feeling of coolness in the home.<\/p>\n Many passive cooling techniques to prevent heat buildup in the home rely on proper planning of the entire home. If you’re building a new home, you can take full advantage of pretty much all passive cooling techniques available to you. But even if you already own your home, you can retrofit it with many of these options for preventing heat buildup.<\/p>\n As you can see, many of these passive cooling options can be retrofitted to a home’s interior and exterior even after it’s built. You don’t even have to take all these steps at once\u2014taking even one or two at a time can make a difference in how much energy you use to cool your home.<\/p>\n Unless you live in a cave, you’re likely to get at least a little heat built up in your home, even if you take the above steps. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to remove heat buildup without using air conditioning. Here are the best options:<\/p>\n If you’re building a home, window and vent placement as well as the direction you place your home on its lot will make a big difference in how efficient natural circulation methods are for your home. But these smart ventilating techniques will work in any home.<\/p>\n If you must use air conditioning to get through the hottest parts of the day, make sure you’re using the most efficient A\/C unit available to you, and only turn it on when you must. If you live in a humid climate, you may need to use more air conditioning than you would otherwise simply because allowing too much humidity to build up in your home can lead to mold and mildew.<\/p>\n Saving money and saving the environment often go hand and hand, and nowhere is that more true than when it comes to home cooling. When you take steps to reduce your air conditioning use, you’ll make a huge impact for the environment, as well as saving tons of money in the process.<\/p>\n Daniela Baker is a blogger at http:\/\/www.creditdonkey.com\/<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Image credit:<\/strong> drewsaunders<\/a> via photo pin<\/a> cc<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Air conditioning is one of the most energy-intensive items we use around the home, particularly since we usually don’t actually need it to get by. Using natural cooling techniques in your home rather than constantly running the central A\/C is one of the easiest ways to go green and save green.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":14631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,7],"tags":[5885,4442,5388,134,91,5886],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is passive cooling?<\/h3>\n
Top ways to prevent your home from getting hot<\/h3>\n
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Top ways to promote air circulation in your home<\/h3>\n
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Use more efficient air conditioning when you must<\/h3>\n