windows for growing your herbs indoors

Insight To Make Your Home More Energy Efficient This Summer

19 May 2018

Ray Moreno

Summer is on its way with temperatures beginning to heat up, so now is a good time to get your air conditioner ready and tuned up. Whether or not your home has air conditioning, there are several ways you can help keep your home cool and reduce your home's energy use and increase its efficiency. Here are some tips and insight to help make your home more energy efficient and cool this summer.

Make Your Windows Energy Efficient

The windows of your home are one of the most common places for heat transfer, or heat to enter or exit your home. The type of glass in your windows can stop the transfer of heat into your home in the summer. If your home windows are old, single-paned, or have energy gaps, you can look into upgrading your windows to double-paned energy efficient windows filled with a low-emissive gas to reduce heat transfer.

You can also consider installing window blinds or draperies on the interior to help block out the sun's rays to prevent interior heat gain. Be sure to close draperies when the sun is shining directly into the window, then you can reopen the draperies after the sun has passed by to allow in indirect sunlight.

Install Attic Fans

During the summer months, your attic can collect a great deal of heat from the sun's rays warming your roof. The heat inside your attic can collect and radiate downward through your ceiling and warm the interior of your living space. Fortunately, you can install attic fans in the attic space to help circulate the air and pull it outside of your attic in the summer.

You can find attic fans installed with a thermostat to switch them on when the temperature reaches a specific level inside the attic. You can also install vents in your attic soffits and along any gables to additionally help vent and circulate air from your attic.

Apply a Reflective Asphalt Coating

If your driveway or other parking areas around your home consist of black asphalt, this dark pavement will increase the temperature immediately outside your home and cause your home's interior to be warmer, as a result. Black asphalt absorbs the sun's rays during the day and continues to heat the air above it well after the sun has set.

Get in contact with and hire an asphalt company to apply a reflective and colored protective coating to your asphalt. This treatment will reflect sunlight and reduce the heat absorption from the sun, and protect your asphalt similar to how a sealcoating does to your pavement. Talk to a local asphalt professional about this option to help reduce the heat island effect in your yard.

Share

Search