Eco 'air conditioning'

I fully admit that this might be common knowledge, but I swear from people's reactions to the cool temperature of our house growing up that not everyone does this. Everyone used to come into our house in the summer and ask "do you have air conditioning?" We didn't. We just did this (below) and it kept our house pretty cool.

At night open all your windows. Set up at least one fan (preferably in your bedroom) as an "exhaust fan" blowing out the window, rather than blowing air in from the outside. In the morning when you get up (assuming you get up before 10 am) your house is the coolest its going to be. Shut all the windows, Close all blinds and curtains (especially on east and south facing windows) and leave them that way all day. Our house can be up to 20 degrees cooler inside than outside. Around noon, turn on any indoor fans or ceiling fans to help circulate air. You will probably feel the need to re-open all the windows back up around 5 or 6 pm, at which point your house will be very stuffy and only about 5 or 10 degrees cooler than the outside. Even if you have real a/c this "technique" can make it so you don't have to turn it on until later in the day.

Many cities are facing severe energy problems from air conditioners. I realize that some people live in places where it is 120 degrees, and you kind of have to have a/c. in places like Oregon, it would be nice to have it about 20 days a year, but you can definitely live without it (it did suck yesterday when it was 101 in Portland, but that is rare...) Our neighbor turns on her a/c when the temp gets above about 70. it drives me nuts. your body's internal thermastat can readjust to different temperatures, so if you don't have a/c, in the summer 85 starts to feel not-very-hot. Just try to minimize your a/c use, and keep your thermastat kind of high (like 80 or more). A/C units are really hard on the energy grid (and the environment).