How to stay cool: 13 cheap tricks for keeping your house cool when the heatwave hits

Europe’s weather forecast has made for alarming reading for weeks now, with the mercury tipping over 40C even in northern countries.

In case we were in any doubt that these blistering temperatures are a result of global warming, meteorologists note that Spain and Portugal 7C hotter than normal for this time of year - reaching a potential 47C in Seville.

The UK’s current (2019) record of 38.7C will probably be history by early next week. If we have any hope of staying the creep of punishing degrees across the world immediate climate action is needed.

There are so many ways to tackle the climate crisis, the best ones collectively. But in the very short term, ‘beating the heat’ looks a lot like keeping ourselves cool and collected - through measures that don’t exacerbate our consumption of fossil fuels.

Staying hydrated is critical - just in case no-one’s told you in the last hour. Here are some more cheap tips from the Euronews Green team for keeping cool at home.

Firstly, let’s address the elephant in the room: air-con. It’s an image that really does a disservice to elephants, as these boring hulks of plastic and metal are serious energy drains - using more electricity than any other mainstream appliance in our homes.

Stand-alone air conditioners also leak hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants (HFCs): toxic gases that further contribute to the loop of climate change.

Fans are a much better option, and can go a long way to warding off insufferable interior temperatures when positioned right.

Setting up your fan across the room from an open window is one way of creating a cooling airflow. Alternatively, point it out an open window on the north side of your home to create a ‘chimney effect’ that will pull in air from this shaded direction.