How to keep your home cool without air conditioning

Plants also cool the air around them through a process called transpiration. Moisture evaporates from their leaves, lowering the local temperature. That’s why a garden full of greenery, shrubs and trees is always cooler than a concrete patio, but you’ll even feel the benefit from a balcony or windowsill full of plants.

It’s better to shade from the outside if you can. External shutters and awnings are extremely effective at keeping your home cool, so use them if you have them.

Unfortunately, most British houses don’t have external shading, so we need to tackle things from the inside. Draw curtains and blinds as soon as the sun starts to encroach and fit insulating blinds to any upward-facing windows if you have them.

If you still feel there’s too much heat coming in through your windows, there are reflective films that you can apply to the glass, which claim to reduce infrared heat by 70-80 per cent. There are lots of different brands available on the internet. Note that if you leave the films on into winter, you won’t benefit as much from the warming rays of the sun on chilly days.

Warm air rises, so if you live in a home with more than one floor you can create a natural airflow. Open a window on the lowest floor (ideally on a shaded side) and open a window or skylight at the very top. The rising hot air will escape out of the higher window, pulling cooler air in through the bottom.

If this doesn’t work for you, it’s time to get out the fans. These do use electricity but they’re much more cost-effective than air conditioning units.

A breeze helps us keep cool by evaporating moisture but there’s a trick to getting the best airflow. Ideally, you should open one window on the hot side of your home and one on a cooler side. You can then experiment by pointing the fan out of the hot window – this pulls air through the cooler window – or by placing the fan in front of the cooler window and pointing it inwards. The second option has the benefit of cooling you down directly if you’re in the same room, but try both options to see which works best for your home.

Open windows on opposite sides of your home to create a refreshing cross-breeze, flushing out all the heavy, warm air that has built up during the day. Keep them open as long as you can – bearing in mind personal safety – but remember to close them and your blinds in the morning to lock that cool air inside.

It also makes sense to use the evening for household chores. Things like running the dishwasher, washing machine or using the oven generate a lot of heat – it’s why the kitchen is often the warmest room in the winter – so try and time it so the heat they generate can be carried away in the evening breeze.