How to keep your home cool in a heatwave

Ahead of more high temperatures forecast for the week ahead, households are being advised to take action to stay cool in the extreme heat.

Professor Runming Yao, an expert on indoor environmental quality, thermal comfort and wellbeing, has been telling us the best ways to avoid hot homes.

Extreme

Professor Runming Yao, University of Reading, said: “The recent extreme heatwaves significantly affected Britons' living conditions at home, particularly for those who are vulnerable, such as the elderly, young children and people with pre-existing conditions.

“The UK's existing buildings were mainly designed and built to cope with a mild, cool climate, but climate change is making heatwaves more frequent. Our research compared how people in the UK and in China's 'Hot Summer and Cold Winter' climate zone respond to heat, and found that people who have lived in hot climates for a long time can cope better with heatwaves. Britons are not yet adapted to this.

“The cause of indoor overheating is due to heat gains entering rooms largely from solar radiation through windows and outdoor warmer air, as well as internal heat gains emitted from electric devices and cooking.

“These straightforward behavioural adaptive measures could be helpful to cooling."

Tips

• Use external shadings, such as shutters and blinds to block solar radiation from windows

• Avoid heavy cooking and intensive use of electrical devices to minimise internal heat gains

• Reuse household wastewater (grey water), such as from baths or washing machines, to dampen patios, driveways and walls. As it evaporates, it draws out the heat stored in the concrete or brick.

• Close windows during the daytime to avoid warmer air entering the room

• Open windows during the night to allow cooler air to enter the room, taking away heat contained in walls and furniture.

• Use portable cooling packs to help cool a room or the body

• Use electric fans to cool the body by evaporating sweat from the skin.

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