Staying cool in the 80’s summers of my childhood was a pretty simple affair. Mountains of frozen Primas, a hose, and a makeshift bed in the laundry. Then everyone got a bug up their rear about air conditioning, and soon enough, our house, too, was playing host to a giant, refrigerated monster of a thing. Naturally, we all thought it was the bees knees. Instead of destroying our milky skin in the blistering Aussie sun, we would settle in front of the television, crank the air
conditioning, and catch up on the latest instalment of Inspector Gadget.
Until the mainstreaming of the green movement, this was pretty standard for most Australian households. Nobody gave much thought to the consequences of their heating and air conditioning, until one by one, a conga line of scientists emerged from the lab to politely inform us that the planet was in trouble – and by turn, the human race-faced extinction if we continued our energy guzzling ways.
So it’s time to get old school about staying cool in Summer. This by no means entails having to lug an esky of frozen juice boxes to the office, or having water fights over smoko with the boss. There are lots of simple, adult-friendly ways to keep comfortable. Weatherworld offers plenty of solutions.
Foremost, you should be ensuring your house is prepared for the heat. Make sure there are no leaky window seals or draughty doors, and then shut everything before 9 am to keep the hot air out. Draw all curtains and blinds to minimize the amount of sun penetrating the interior of the home, and consider installing UV sheeting on some of the more prominent windows. It’s cheap, dead easy to DIY, and can have a marked effect on the temperature of a room.
You needn’t sacrifice air-conditioning altogether, either. Evaporative cooling is both gentle on the environment and on your body. It can actually help to ease the symptoms of asthma and hay fever sufferers, due to it’s air filtering properties. With low running costs and a reasonably low purchase price, it’s easy to see why evaporative cooling is fast becoming eco-conscious Australians first choice for air conditioning.
Belinda Darling is a copywriter working with Weather World. When Danielle’s not writing content she enjoys swimming, sunbathing and taking her German Shepherd for a walk.
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