How to stay cool for less in dangerous heat

With heat indices surpassing the triple digit mark for multiple days to kick off this week, many people's electricity bills will look to rise while they try to get their temperatures to fall.

One of the most important things to check in your home is the ceiling fan. With increased humidity, your body is less  effective at evaporating its own sweat. A fan will speed up the evaporation process which helps cool you more efficiently. Make sure your fan is rotating counter clockwise. This pushes a breeze downward creating the cooling affect. 

There are several other tips to keeping the bill low including using more effective blinds and topping off ceiling insulation. For long term home owners, planting trees and other foliage around the outside of the house can provide a natural shad barrier decreasing the amount of electricity needed to keep the home cool.

Making sure to switch out incandescent light bulbs to CFL or LED bulbs can also help since incandescent lightbulbs can reach higher temperatures leading to minor changes in home temperatures. Making sure their are also no gaps in your windows or doors is also important to keeping the cool in and heat out.