Summers are kicking in and temperatures are soaring high. Great time for those who enjoy diving into the water and sipping ice drink. Keeping cool indoors is a major challenge, heavy on energy consumption and yet sometimes it feels that nothing is working.

Here are a few easy to do methods to bring down your energy consumption.

- Treat top surface of the your building.

98% of heat comes from the top surface which in conventional building style is built with brick lining. Over time this lining gets dark, and we all know dark absorbs heat.

A Simple treatment to this is to have light coloured terrace surface, either through stone, or inexpensive white Chunna paint.

- Window gaps.

Most windows in houses are made up of wood, which starts showing gaps after a while. Gaps are found between frame and brick, or frame and window, or window and glass. This contributes to 80% leaks of cooling. The best way is to have a relatively airtight opening.

Use window seals, silicon and material filling to close the gaps.

- Direct sun gain through openings.

Direct sun gain brings in direct heat and which on its its own is the single largest source as compare to any other spot in the building.

Generating sunshades and louvers from OUTSIDE is the best cure.

- Internal trapped heat.

It may be surprising to know that most of the times, the source of heat is actually inside in the form of trapped air. Hot air gets built up in pockets throughout the day which takes a lot of energy if mechanically cooled.

The best option is to ventilate it during sunset hours or dusk. It may take a couple of hit and trials to understand the location of the air pocket and what window/ doors can it be ventilated through. Strategically placing exhaust opening also helps.

Have a carbon friendly summer.