With summer temperatures predicted to keep on rising over time, how do we live comfortably in homes that are more designed to prioritise keeping us warm in winter over keeping us cool in summer?
Dr Zoe De Grussa, Research Manager at CIBSE (The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers), has some practical advice to help.
“Look to the continent. Countries that are used to dealing with very hot summers can provide some great tips on keeping cool as it gets hotter here in the UK.”
CIBSE’s top tips to keep your home cool in a heatwave
- Keep the sun out: Close external blinds or shutters when the sun shines on windows. If you don’t have these, keep internal blinds or curtains closed during the day.
- Keep the hot air out: When it’s hotter outside than inside, keep windows closed during the hottest parts of the day to prevent heat from entering.
- Let cool air in: Open windows early morning, evening, and overnight if safe, ideally on opposite sides of the house to create a through-draft. Use the chimney effect by opening windows at the top and bottom of multi-storey homes to draw hot air out.
- Stop baking: Avoid using ovens or heat-generating appliances during the hottest hours.
- Find your cool spot: Identify the coolest part of your home and spend as much time there as possible.
Longer term, try to use trees or plants to provide shade around the building during summer and make sure that your house is well insulated. Insulation not only keeps warmth in during the winter, it also keeps heat out in the summer.
Provided you have good ventilation, well insulated homes will be more comfortable all year round.
“We’re expecting summer temperatures in the UK to rise quite quickly over the next decades” explains Dr De Grussa.
CIBSE uses Met Office observations and climate projections to provide weather data for people designing the buildings of the future.
“The hottest summer recently was in 2022. According to UK Climate Projections (UKCP18) we expect to see that kind of summer every 10 years at the moment.
“By 2050 it’ll be every other year and by the end of the century all our summers are likely to include prolonged spells of temperatures in the high 30 degree range.
“We’re just not used to it and our buildings are not designed to deal with it, so we have to get used to taking simple practical steps to help make hot summers more comfortable.”