Home energy Q&A: Keep your house cool even if you don't have air conditioning

By Ken Sheinkopf

Published: July 19, 2008

Q: I appreciate your many articles about ways to cut down on air-conditioning costs, but I'm sure there are a lot of people like me whose homes don't have air conditioning who would like to stay more comfortable in hot weather. What do you recommend for us?

A: I get a lot of questions like this, and one of the basic answers is that you do many of the same things people with air conditioners do. I think the biggest exception, though, is that you do more to use natural ventilation to cool your home rather than shut it up tightly and let the air conditioner do that job.

The first step in keeping your home comfortable in hot weather is to keep as much heat as you can out of the house in the first place. Big roof overhangs will block much of the high summer sun. Trees and shrubbery can be very effective, especially on the east and west walls, and will stop a lot of the sun's heat from reaching the walls of your home.

Awnings, shutters and other outdoor shading devices can stop a lot of the heat before it gets inside. Window covers, especially when they are shut tightly during the day, can block the sun. A light-colored roof will help reflect the sun's heat.

Proper levels of attic insulation will help keep heat from getting into your living space through a hot attic. All of these steps can help keep your home much more comfortable in hot weather.

Opening your home to take advantage of natural ventilation is also very important, so you need to do what you can to enhance the flow of the wind through the home. Cross-ventilation is very effective, so whenever possible leave windows open on different sides of your home to channel the air in and out.

Natural windbreaks such as shrubbery or fences around the home can block and channel winds and direct them into the home. Keep in mind that heat will build up indoors during a hot day, and opening windows and doors at night can allow the cool night air to push that heat outdoors.

These are all steps in passive home cooling in which no equipment is used to improve indoor comfort. You can use fans to provide mechanical cooling that will further improve the comfort level.

Let me begin with something I have been saying for years: Fans are absolutely terrific for keeping people cool in hot weather, but you've got to understand the principle behind their use for them to work efficiently.

Fans can work beautifully if you're sitting close enough to them to feel their cooling breeze over your skin. There's a wind chill effect that cools your body.

If you're using air conditioning, you can set the thermostat up a few degrees and save some money while feeling just as comfortable when the fan blows on you. If you don't have air conditioning, then the comfort is terrific just the same.

But the key point is that fans really won't cool you if you just have them on in various rooms and assume that they are blowing cool air all around the house. Remember this: fans cool people, not rooms.

In really hot weather, you will especially appreciate your kitchen and bathroom exhaust fans that not only force unwanted odors outdoors, but also get rid of heat and humidity that build up from cooking and cleaning. Whole house fans and solar-powered attic vent fans also will help keep the attic temperatures lower, an important step in keeping heat out of the home's living space.

Yes, air conditioning is awfully nice to have, but if you don't have it, there are many steps you can take to keep air moving through your home and to block heat from getting inside. If you can keep the heat from getting inside in the first place, it's a lot easier to use natural ventilation to stay cool.

Q: How do I find a home builder who knows about energy efficiency?

We've been talking with builders for several months, and when I ask them about building us an energy-efficient home, we usually get either a vague comment that all their homes are efficient or they tell us that it'll make the price too expensive. Where do we find builders who care?

A: I used to get a lot of questions like this 20 years ago, and I always thought that as time went by, there'd be no need to ask this again. Unfortunately, I still hear from people about this on a regular basis.

The good news is that while there are still some builders out there who see energy-efficiency as something that raises the prices of their homes and drives their buyers away, there are builders in all parts of the country who realize that making a home efficient will attract many potential buyers, making their homes more desirable and thus more marketable, and they're creating better homes without raising the prices very much at all. And it really is great to meet builders all the time who tell me they make all of their homes energy-efficient because "it's the right thing to do.”

I think you're just talking to the wrong builders about your plans for your new home. Ask around and you ought to find a number of them in your community who are building homes that exceed the minimum energy-efficiency levels.

Homes that are energy-efficient not only save money on utility bills but are usually more comfortable, insect-free, quieter and with better indoor air quality. Any price increases in the cost of the home (resulting from such improvements as higher-priced energy-efficient appliances, increased insulation levels, better windows or even solar systems on the roof) are usually offset by energy savings that are greater than the small additional mortgage increases of these features, actually saving you money from the first day you move into the home.

Frankly, if you ask around, I think you'll find it is harder to find a builder who doesn't care about energy efficiency these days than to find one who does! Don't get discouraged if you find some who don't realize that some investments up front will pay back big dividends over time. After all, they're not the ones who will be living in the house and paying the utility bills.

I have often recommended that people go to the Energy Star Web pages for contact information of builders and developers who are partners of that program, building homes that greatly exceed the minimum efficiency standards. Go to www.energystar.gov.

Another great source gives contact information for builders who have joined the U.S. Department of Energy's Builders Challenge, meaning they have committed to building homes that are considerably more energy efficient than average ones and offer comfort, quality, durability and a healthy indoor environment.

In February, Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman launched this voluntary national energy savings program for high-performance homes that will use at least 30 percent less energy than do today's typical homes.

Dozens of builders had announced their participation already, and the program goal is for the country's homebuilding industry to build 220,000 high-performance homes by 2012.

The ultimate goal of the program is to move in the direction of building all new homes to qualify as zero-energy ones, producing as much energy as they consume. You can get a list of builders in this program at www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/challenge/searchbuilder.aspx.

The average U.S. homeowner currently pays more than $1,700 each year in utility costs. While the sticker shock of $4-plus gasoline is so dramatic, the monthly utility bills we all pay don't usually jump out at us so dramatically. But as we continue to use more energy in our homes and the utility rates increase, the impact on people's lifestyles will be felt even more.

Don't give up on finding an energy-efficient home. It'll be one of the best investments you ever make.

Ken Sheinkopf is a communications specialist with the American Solar Energy Society ( www.ases.org). Send your energy questions to askken@ases.org.

Don't give up on finding an energy-efficient home. It'll be one of the best investments you ever make.

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