Air conditioning cools your home by removing heat from the indoor air. In order to minimize your energy bills, you’ll want to limit the amount of heat that your A/C has to remove. There are a number of sources of thermal heat gain and a number of steps to take to lessen them.

The number one source of thermal heat gain is sunlight. When it strikes your home’s roof, walls and windows, a portion of its energy is absorbed as heat. How much depends on the color and material they are made out of. Roofs are particularly prone to gaining a lot of heat in this manner. Typically, lighter-colored materials do better at reflecting sunlight away, but even light-colored traditional roofing materials absorb a lot of sunshine.

One way to reduce the heat gain is by applying reflective coatings. These are available for windows as well as roofs. An additional option for the underside of roofs is a radiant barrier consisting of paper-backed foil. The best solution for siding is simply choosing light colors.

Shade also can lessen your home’s heat gain from sunlight. Landscaping can be a good natural solution. Ideally, shading will be accomplished by deciduous trees so that the home can still gain useful heat energy from the sun in the winter. Vines can also be good in this respect.

There are also sources of thermal heat gain present inside your home. Lighting and appliances can generate significant amounts of heat. Incandescent lights are very inefficient. To reduce heat gain from lighting, switch to compact fluorescents or LEDs.

Stoves are an obvious source of heat. It’s best to avoid using them in hot weather. Using an outdoor grill or a microwave can be viable alternatives.

There a number of other things you can do to lessen your home’s thermal heat gain, such as attic ventilation and increasing your home’s insulation, so feel free to contact the experts at Powers Heating & Air for more information. We can help customers in Peachtree City and the surrounding area with all of your home comfort needs.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Peachtree City, Georgia and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).

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