As the weather continues to heat up, most folks are turning on their air conditioners. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing per se, athough it will surely force electric bills to creep higher (and possibly spiral out of control). I think most of us would rather get a similar cooling effect without taking the huge hit on our energy bills. Considering that wall or window units can consume 500 watts of power easily (for a small unit), its only wise to consider at least some alternatives to air conditioning.

Note: Please don’t place a block of ice or something similar in front of a fan - that’s incredibly dangerous and life threatening! Despite what cartoons and other shows may depict, it just doesn’t work!

Its important to note that any alternative to air conditioning will never give you the same results as a good old fashioned air conditioner. Simply put, right now, there’s no way to replace the compressor technology cheaply and achieve the same results.

But I will present you with an alternative you might want to look into that will save you on energy bills and might keep you cool enough to avoid having to turn on the a/c.

Every house has at least four sides (apartments too for that matter). There’s always at least 1 side that faces the sun, and always at least one side that doesn’t (i.e. receives shade). There’s also a wind facing side and the side opposite the wind.

Now conventional knowledge would tell you to open the windows on a breezy day on the windy side of the house. I want to challenge that assertion and tell you to open the windows on the opposite side of the house. Keep the windows on the sunny/windy side closed. Now open the windows on the cool or shady sides of the house.

What this does is change the air pressure in your house. You see, when you open a window on the windy side of the house, warm air blows through your home. It may or may not exit, depending on the other windows you have open. The pressure in the house is being adjusted by the wind flowing through it.

By opening the windows on the other side, we’re forcing air out by inducing a pressure change.  So we’re forcibly removing warm air and drawing cooler air (from the shady side of the house) in.

Does this method work? Sometimes. Of course, the stronger the wind the better the results. For that matter, the greater the temperature difference the better the results as well.

Is it for everybody? No, probably not. Give it a try, and you might be pleasantly surprised!