| Air Conditioning (Cooling Your Home) |
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Air Conditioning should be considered as the last option for cooling your home. If you’ve exhausted all other options and are looking to purchase an air conditioner check out the link in the PDFs section to the right for information on how to purchase an efficient and cost effective air conditioner. If you want to know more about how to cool your home for a lot less money than the cost of using an air conditioner read on! Essentially, to keep cooling costs at the lowest levels there are three main things to do:
(Understanding the principles of heating and cooling, and the roles of conduction, convection, radiation and perspiration can be helpful in designing the most effective way of achieving the above three aims, and this document explains them clearly and simply.) Ventilation is the least expensive and most energy-efficient way to cool buildings, bringing in cool night air and keeping air moving during the day. Ventilation works best when combined with methods to avoid heat buildup in your home. In some cases, natural ventilation will suffice for cooling, although it usually needs to be supplemented with spot ventilation, ceiling fans and window fans. For large homes, homeowners might want to investigate whole house fans. Ventilation is ineffective in hot, humid climates where temperature swings between day and night are small. In these climates, attic ventilation can help to reduce your use of air conditioning. Ventilating your attic greatly reduces the amount of accumulated heat, which eventually works its way into the main part of your house. Ventilated attics are about 30°F (16°C) cooler than unventilated attics. Properly sized and placed louvers and roof vents help prevent moisture buildup and overheating in your attic. For details on how to avoid heat buildup and how to make best use of natural ventilation, ceiling fans and other circulating fans, window fans and whole house fans click on the PDFs with the same titles to the right.
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