Living Green In Your Home

Smart Ways to Cool Yourself in Summer

Set your room temperature sensibly.

Make sure that your air conditioner doesn't automatically go on when the temperature is 28° C or below. Over-cooling a room not only wastes energy, it's unhealthy. If every household in Japan set its air conditioners just 1°C higher we could save the energy equivalent to 380,000 kiloliters of crude oil.

Use dehumidifiers wisely.

Even if the temperature is the same, a 15% difference in humidity feels like a temperature difference of 1°C. If you use an air conditioner, be sure to activate a low "dry-mode" setting that consumes little electric power when the indoor and outdoor temperatures aren't significantly different.

Keep excessive light out of your house.

Using sunscreens (like curtains or Venetian blinds) to block hot sunlight pouring into the east & west sides of the house reduces the amount of heat from sunlight entering your house by approximately 1/2.

Choose the right kind of AC and use it properly.

Air conditioners are sold with labels describing their efficiency and cooling power, so if you choose to purchase one, be sure to consider how large your household is and the number of people who'll use it. If you already own one, be sure to clean its filter once every two weeks as a dirty filter wastes up to 10% of the electricity needed to operate it. Moreover, if you install it in a shaded place that gets a regular breeze (or good ventilation), you'll improve efficiency by up to 15%.

Insulate your house.

If you're building a new house or adding an extension, be sure to insulate the roof, ceiling, walls and floor and install double-paned (insulating) glass windows. By doing so, you'll save about 1/3 of the energy used to cool your house. In Japan, a system has been established to offer financial incentives to people who opt to install insulation during construction. Take advantage of it!

Use your refrigerator properly.

Be sure not to place your refrigerator in a place receiving direct sunlight or too close to a wall - preferably in a well-ventilated location. Items containing high water content should be sealed and hot food and liquids should be cooled before placing inside your refrigerator. For example, to cool down 4 liters of hot tea, your refrigerator consumes an extra 10% of energy. To avoid wasting energy be sure to reduce the number of times you open and close the door, insert and remove items as quickly as possible, and never stuff the refrigerator to full capacity - it inhibits air circulation and forces your refrigerator to consume excessive energy.

Acknowledgments

This information was exerpted from the EcoSIG Environment Action Guide.