Summer has returned with a vengeance this week and the weekend is hot too with temperatures reaching 30°C in some areas. Most homes in Belgium don’t have air conditioning and anyway airco systems are often expensive to run. However, there are other ways to keep yourself and home cool on hot days and they are cheaper and easier than you think. Earlier this week the energy expert Glenn Reynders gave VRT Radio 2 three top tips on keeping cool.
Glenn Reynders is an innovation manager at Leuven University (KUL). He conducts research at EnergyVille, an energy research centre set up by Leuven University, Hasselt University, Imec and Vito into sustainable energy and intelligent energy systems.
Glenn Reynders told the VRT that "To feel comfortable, it is important that we can release our body heat into the atmosphere. In order to be able to do this the atmosphere around us must be cool enough. If it becomes too warm, we require assistance to expel our body heat. This can be done by, amongst other things, blowing air over ourselves.
"A fan can be an option, but you have to sit close to it so that the air is immediately blown over your skin. The effect is immediate, but highly localised. A fan won’t cool down an entire room."
But what can you too cool down a room or an entire house?
Glenn Reynders has three tips to help you stay cool.
1) Wet towel
"To make your own air conditioner hang a wet towel over your fan. The water in the towel will use heat from the air to evaporate and become a gas. When this happens heat will be extracted from the air and then the temperature will effectively drop."
2) Bottles of frozen water
"What you also often see on the internet is that people put ice-cooled water bottles in front of a fan. That can help to create temporary localised effect, but keep in mind that a lot of energy is required to achieve the required effect because you have to freeze your water first and for that your freezer has to use additional energy”.
3. Hang your wet laundry out
The third tip is perhaps the most surprising. "If you hang out your wet laundry in your living room or office just after it has come out of the washing machine a lot of water will evaporate. The wet laundry will effectively extract heat from the atmosphere. Put your clothes horse inside rather than outside. It will take a little longer for your laundry to dry, but your living room will cool down. However, please note, the more humid the air is, the more difficult it is for us to perspire".