five tips for cooling your home without installing an air conditioner

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How to lower the temperature at home when you are a tenant and you have a small budget? While four departments are placed on heatwave orange vigilance this Sunday, an expert from the Ecological Transition Agency explains what to do and what not to do.

Last year, more than half of French people suffered from heat in their homes for at least 24 hours, according to a study by the Abbé Pierre Foundation. Impossible to heat in winter, many apartments and houses are transformed into energy kettles in summer. For the first time for this summer 2023, four departments are placed on heatwave orange vigilance on Sunday July 9, Météo-France announces:Ain, the Rhône, the Isère and the Alpes-Maritimes.

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When it’s over 30 degrees outside and not much colder at home, we start dreaming of air conditioning (and a swimming pool). But it’s a false good idea, says Claire Peyet Febrer, expert in adaptation to climate change at Ademe d’Île-de-France. On the one hand, because the individual air conditioner is expensive to buy (around 300 euros for the first prices), but also because it is a very energy-intensive piece of equipment. Here are his five solutions to lower the temperature at home.

Close all windows and shutters early in the morning

“As soon as the outside air is warm” and the temperature outside “exceeds 25 degrees”, you have to close all the shutters and the windows, assures Claire Peyet Febrer. This can be as early as 8 a.m. during heat waves, explains the expert from Ademe Île-de-France. “We tend to close the shutters and leave the windows open”, she observes. But this is a serious mistake, because “we’re going to let the hot air in and then it’s going to be difficult to evacuate it”.

Another bad reflex: close the windows in the rooms facing west and south and leave them open in the rooms facing north. We close everywhere “so that the charge remains and circulates in the other rooms”, explains Claire Peyet Febrer. If one of the rooms is really cooler than the others (more than three degrees difference), the expert even suggests closing the door to create an island of coolness.

Note that, whatever the material of your shutters, they must be closed completely. “Even if it’s made of metal – the classic shutters that you can see in Haussmann or post-Haussmann housing in Paris (less insulating than wood) – it cuts heat well”. The most important is the color of the shutters. If the regulations of the condominium allow it, the ideal is to paint them white.

Do not (necessarily) reopen them in the evening

When a light breeze blows in the evening, the temptation is great to reopen the windows to ventilate your accommodation. “Unfortunately, in big cities like Paris where there are these urban heat island effects, the air still remains hot outside, especially during heat waves when it rarely drops below 25 degrees. warns Claire Peyet Febrer. The ideal is to have an indoor and outdoor thermometer. If it’s always warmer outside than inside, we stay in bunker mode. For a draft effect, there is always the fan option. You can even place a bottle of ice water in front of the dial, a more affordable and “eco-friendly” method than the air conditioner.

Install blackout curtains

You don’t have shutters and you can’t install them (question of budget and/or rental status)? “THEthick, blackout curtains are an option”, suggests Claire Peyet Febrer. Closed during the day, these anti-cold filters in winter will lower the temperature in summer by ” one or two degrees”. Can also “to moisten them”, she adds. If you have thin curtains, sheer type, she advises to moisten them, “rather in the evening, when it starts to get cooler and we reopen the windows”. Wet laundry has a significant cooling effect. Do not hesitate, moreover, to extend your clothes, fresh out of the washing machine, against your windows, in particular those of the rooms facing south and west.

If your landlord is particularly concerned about your summer comfort, you can offer to install a sunscreen (or sunshade), adds the Ademe expert. These adjustable and removable structures in wood, metal or concrete “prevent direct exposure from being too strong and will reduce the passage of light and therefore heat”.

Turn off standby devices

Keeping your home cool also requires changing certain habits, especially in the kitchen. “We will avoid making large dishes with a roast in the oven because it will generate a lot of heat in the accommodation”, recalls Claire Peyet Febrer. An easy tip to follow in the middle of tomato and cucumber season: “Think about cooking fresher”. It is also better to avoid turning on electrical appliances, “That also, it generates heat”. That is to say turn off, for example, TV or computer screens in standby.

Surround yourself with plants

“If you have a small piece of balcony, exposed more to the south and west, do not hesitate to place flower pots”advises Claire Peyet Febrer. Afterwards, if we have more space, we can put pergolas, climbing plants, plants that create shade on the walls, the windows”. Thanks to the phenomenon of evapotranspiration, explains the Ademe expert, “the plant refreshes the atmosphere”. “The water it draws from the roots is rejected by the leaves in the form of water droplets which evaporate. And so that has a cooling effect”.

You don’t have a balcony? A planter hanging from the window “will have its effect”, says Claire Peyet Febrer. “It will be limited, but it’s always good to take”. This green presence, even discreet, accentuates the feeling of freshness when the window is opened in the evening. Indoor plants can also participate in the establishment of this island of freshness, provided that they are placed near the windows, “a bit like a barrier”.

Allies against the heat, plants are also against mosquitoes. Put lemongrass, thyme or even lemon balm on your windows. These plants are repellents for the insects that usually come to bite us at night.


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