Close your window shades during long summer afternoons. Keeping your drapes, blinds, and shades closed can help your home stay cool during those warm days.

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Close your window shades during long summer afternoons. Keeping your drapes, blinds, and shades closed can help your home stay cool during those warm days.

When you close your window coverings during summer months, you prevent the sunlight shining through the panes from creating a mini greenhouse effect in your home. The results are even better if an outside shade is used, completely blocking the sun's rays from penetrating the window.

If you keep the shades pulled over windows that receive a lot of sun exposure during the summer, you could reduce your cooling costs by up to 50 percent. For the average American, that equals an annual savings of about $140. If every air-conditioned household in the U.S. could cut its cooling costs in half by shading windows, the 91 billion kilowatt-hours of energy conserved could meet the air conditioning needs of every household in Texas for 18 months.

Department of Energy