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Beat the Summer Heat With Home Decorating
by Joey Pebble
Humanity has not always had air conditioning at our beck and
call, a button away from cooling control of the environment around us. Before
the invention of this modern marvel, people had to find ways to keep their
homes cool in the summer using clever, and often common sense measures, that
helped keep the heat down. Now that we know the energy costs and the
environmental impact of running an air conditioner all day every day during the
warmest months, its time that we revisit some of this simple wisdom that abided
with our ancestors.
The easiest way to cool your home in an energy friendly way
is to simply use a fan. While these aren’t ancient artifacts, the fan does
predate air conditioning by many years, and is a far more efficient and cost
effective solution for controlling the environment of an over heated home. Fans are far less expensive initially, than
their energy guzzling competition, and even the most inefficient fan left
running for 12 hours a day, every day during the summer, will cost less than
$10 a month in energy consumption.
By far the most effective fans are ceiling pieces. These can
easily circulate the air throughout an entire room, making the atmosphere feel
instantly cooler and more refreshed. While a good fan can lower the temperature
in a room by as much as 7 degrees, the real benefit is circulation of the air,
which will make the space feel even cooler then that.
The greatest source of heat on the planet is the sun.
However, you have the power to block it out of your home. Just purchase heavy
drapes or curtains, and make sure that they are shut whenever the sun is
shining through the windows. Otherwise you can end up with a greenhouse effect,
with the heat passing through the glass of the windows, then remaining trapped
within your home with nowhere to escape to.
Another source of unwanted heat in the home comes from
lights, light bulbs, and lighting fixtures. These produce heat by their very
nature, and while it may not always be readily apparent, it adds up to warm up
the air over time. Bright rooms also generally tend to feel hotter, adding to
the perception of the warmth in the air. Avoid this by turning lights down, or
off, or using ambient illumination to create a gentle glow throughout the space.
Electronics in general are going to give off heat, so when
possible turn off, or better yet unplug devices such as televisions, laptop
computers, stereos, and anything else that you are not using right at the
moment. This can be made convenient by wiring your electrical devices into a
series of surge protectors, which will allow you to centralize the process.
In general, you can beat the summer heat by arranging your
home in a way that maximizes comfort, and eliminates unwanted warmth. This will
allow you to use the air conditioner less, and will help to preserve the
environment, as well as the money in your pocket.
This article was written on behalf of PebbleZ.com’s
illuminated onyx stone
lamps, and rustic ambient lighting options. The article itself
was written by Joey Pebble.
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