Keeping Your Cool
Image by YuliiaKa on Freepik
I watched a movie the other day about a woman who inherited a house on a cliff overlooking the Adriatic. Like most coastal homes in Croatia, the thick walls were made of rock and stone to keep the house cool in summer. Windows were small and few, stingy with light.
The woman in the film, Zeynep, is enraged at her cheating, Turkish husband. The lack of light in the house on the cliff is driving her over the edge. She takes a mallet and smashes a big hole in the wall facing the sea. Light streams into the kitchen and Zeynep beams with satisfaction. Her Croatian, soon-to-be lover witnesses the demolition. “What are you doing?” he screams, then proceeds, more gently, to explain the virtues of small windows and thick, stone walls in hot climates. I remember being in Spain as a teenager in the summer. I remember the heavy persianas…the sound they made as I closed them each morning to shut out the light. It felt a bit like Dracula closing the lid of his coffin, but those persianas really worked! The tile floors stayed cool throughout the day and the dimness of the interior was a relief when returning home in the late afternoon. Small windows, louvered shutters and thick, stone walls were, and continue to be, an efficient way to keep the heat at bay… on the Adriatic, the Mediterranean or the Aegean.
In my interview with home energy consultant Zeta Cross, we talk about environmentally-friendly, efficient ways to heat and cool our homes in America. The Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) touts rebates for switching from fossil-fuel-powered heating and cooling systems to electric. Zeta is excited about induction stoves, electric lawn mowers and heat pumps. We should be too if all the claims are accurate!
Following are links to some great reading and resources on transforming your home to a more energy-efficient, cleaner home. There are also links to info on what you can expect from the IRA. I hope you will investigate. There are still lots of challenges and glitches to going electric, but the long-range benefits to your wallet, to the planet and to future generations is indisputable.
Thank you, Zeta, for sharing so much great info! You can listen to our interview here. I love to listen to great podcasts in the car and while I knit. Fill your mind with a good podcast! Thanks for listening. CK
1. Book: Electrify by Saul Griffith
2. Rewiring America: a new non-profit working to electrify homes, businesses and communities. Political leader Stacey Abrams is Senior Counsel for the group.
3. Links:
a ) How much can your household save? https://www.rewiringamerica.org/app/ira-calculator
b) PA IRA rebate link: https://www.dep.pa.gov/Citizens/Energy/Pages/Inflation-Reduction-Act.aspx
c) Springfield/Montco, PA Environmental Advisory Council (EAC):
Link to get emails from the Springfield Township EAC https://www.springfieldmontco.org/my-account/my-notifications/
4. Zeta Cross: zeta@smartgreenrealty.com. Contact Zeta and she’ll send you a copy of the Wirecutter guide to home heat pumps for heating and cooling. https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/guides/heat-pump-buying-guide/
According to Zeta, there will be rebates for heat pumps, induction stoves, electrical work, heat pump dryers, heat pump hot water heaters, electric lawn equipment, air sealing and insulation. The DOE (Department of Energy) will release info on specific rebates and their amounts in mid-July of this year. Pennsylvania will announce their rebates in December or January, 2024.
