Extreme heat has become a major issue in most parts of the world as a global warming shows no signs of stopping. The United States itself has been dealing with extremely hot summers for a while now, and is expected to only rise. You tried every trick in the book to keep your house cool, but only ended up with either no results or soaring electricity bills.
This summer, why not adopt the Japanese way of dealing with summer instead? You see, the Japanese people despite being technologically advanced, don’t believe fans and ACs are the solution. Try out these two tricks mentioned below and see the kind of results you get.
1. Bamboo Blinds
As summer approaches in Japan, people resort to many natural ways to beat the heat. One of the popular ways happens to be fitting bamboo blinds that cover the windows and doors. Bamboo blinds can also be hung in the balcony for an added aesthetic appeal. These blinds block the sun and minimize the heat that can enter the rooms.
Known as Sudare in Japan, these products consist of horizontal slats of decorative bamboo or other material, woven together using a simple string. They can be folded up and out of the way or rolled downwards to cover the window. They are also often used to shield the balcony and other openings from insects and rain.
Bamboo blinds also breathe well and do not restrict winners from blowing inside. They also provide quite a bit of shade so that your homes interiors remain in a state of low lighting. When you combine all these benefits, it wouldn’t be wrong to expect a temperature drop of at least 2-3 degrees centigrade. Bamboo blinds are inexpensive and save electricity as well!
2. Sprinkling Water (Uchimizu)
The simple tradition of sprinkling water to reduce extreme heat still holds value today in modern Japan. Referred to as Uchimizu, this ancient tradition is even quite celebrated in Japan during the summer months. To translate to English, the word uchi comes from the verb “utsu” meaning to strike or hit. And Mizu is water in Japanese.
As you can infer, the word Uchimizu translates to striking water (on paths and pavements). In Japan, Uchimizu was traditionally done wearing a yukata, using a ladle and bowl made of bamboo. However, today people use all sorts of things like ports, buckets, and bottles, in order to get the work done.
Some Japanese people believe that this practice can take away as much as 10 degree Celsius of heat from the ground. While there came may or may not be scientifically accurate, sprinkling water does at least lower temperature by quite a lot by evaporating the heat and let it escape through the air. You can do it too at home to see how it goes.
What’s your pick?
It’s time that you took a page out of Japan’s book and tried out these two unique methods of cooling. They are cost effective, easy to do, and have the potential of saving you hundreds of dollars in electricity bills each year. So go ahead and try one!
