Air conditioning is great for keeping a house cool, but it isn’t the only answer for cooling a home. For one thing, many homes are not equipped with central air conditioning, and installing a new central A/C system is a major improvement that typically costs $8,000 to $20,000 or more. As an alternative, many homeowners utilize room air conditioners, but these can be very expensive to operate on a regular basis and require a robust electrical system.

So what can you do if you live where summer temperatures are scorching and your home doesn’t have air conditioning—or if it is just too expensive to run it? There are several tried-and-true techniques that can help you cool down your house to eliminate the need for A/C or reduce the strain on your air-conditioning system. Some of these are immediate and inexpensive, while others require a bit of time and investment.

In this section of HomeTips, you will find examples of measures you can take, including reducing heat transfer through the walls with proper insulation, installing foil barriers in the attic, utilizing heat-reflecting film on windows, sheltering the house from direct sun, operating fans to circulate the air, monitoring temperatures with state-of-the-art thermostats, and more.