One of the most efficient ways of cooling your home is incredibly simple and eco-friendly.
Cross-ventilation is a technique which regulates cool air through the home, channeling it between open windows and doors strategically placed opposite each other.
Local authorities often encourage home designs to minimize the use of HVACs to reduce greenhouse emissions.
Cross-ventilation will reduce your heating and cooling bills and ensure you expel stale, dusty air in your home, minimizing the presence of allergens and odors.
And by reducing humidity with this technique, there’s less chance of mold and mildew, which can affect your health.
Environmental issues are a hot button for many buyers, and homes featuring cross-ventilation are highly regarded.
Whether you’re building a new home or considering a remodel, building cross-ventilation into your plans will pay you back handsomely in terms of increasing the value and desirability of your home.
These are some of the steps to creating cross-ventilation and making your home more environmentally friendly.
Get in the flow
You can achieve cross-ventilation by having vents, windows and doors opposite each other to create a flow of cool air through your home, simultaneously expelling the warm air.
Window option
Selecting louver windows (slats of glass positioned in the same frame that open at an angle) can help you regulate the flow efficiently.
Local knowledge
The most efficient cross-ventilation will take into account the prevailing direction of cooling winds in your area. As an extreme example, you wouldn’t position windows and doors to cross-ventilate the home with winds that come off the desert.
Blocking blues
You undermine the effect of cross-ventilation by placing furniture in front of windows. Ideally, your curtains should be pulled as far back as possible to get the greatest benefit of cooling air entering the home.