An AC unit is a great device for cooling a home, but it won't be enough on its own. For the best results, you should combine passive and active cooling strategies. Passive cooling describes any step you can take to cool your home that does not require electricity. Active cooling, on the other hand, requires electricity. A combination of cooling strategies should give you the best savings.

Passive Cooling

One of the biggest challenges that your air conditioning unit has to contend with is heat gain. As the sun beats down on your roof and streams through your windows, it heats up your home, and the hotter your home gets, the harder your AC until has to work to cool it back down. Asphalt will heat up your home faster than other roofing materials. In contrast cool roofs will prevent your home from heating up. You can also use window film to filter out UV rays before they have a chance to drive up your cooling costs. 

Not every passive cooling strategy will have to do with upgrading the components of your home. Some strategies are as simple as planting a tree. Through the process of evapotranspiration, trees will cool the air around them. If the outside of your home is cool, the inside of your home should be too because there is less heat transfer through the walls of your home. Furthermore, the hotter it gets outside the less efficient your AC unit is; thus, by helping to reduce the temperature in your yard, trees can help to boost the efficiency of your AC unit.

Active Cooling

Your AC unit is only one device that you can use to cool your home. If you live in an area that has cool nighttime temperatures, you can use a house fan to cool your home through the evening and night. To install a house fan, you have to cut a hole through your ceiling to the attic. It can the vent hot air out of your home through your attic, and by opening your windows, you can get your house fan to pump in cool air. Thus, in a matter of minutes a house fan can cool your home, and as it uses less electricity than an AC unit, a house fan will help you to save money. 

There are many steps that you can take to cool your home. By employing multiple cooling strategies, you can increase your savings. It might cost a little bit of money to use multiple cooling strategies, but the money you save should offset the cost. 

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