Disabling the air-dry feature on your dishwasher will typically turn on the heated dry option, which adds even more heat to your home.

Kick on the whole house fan with windows cracked and screen doors open and within 10-20 minutes the inside temp is the same as the outside. It is particularly effective for wood frame houses since they do not have masonry or brick walls to absorb the daytime/seasonal heat and will not continue to radiate that heat after the inside air has been exchanged with the cooler outside night air. Masonry houses are a bit more difficult to cool down however will retain the cool longer the next sunny day.

There are excellent modern whole house fans that are metaefficient. Old units like my friend’s in Sedona are 36 x 36 inches and can suck a letter out of your hand if you stand below it while it’s running. New models have super-efficient fans with high-tech bearings. Less noise and less friction. One unit I resarched was a mere 16 x 16 inches. These newer units also have digital settings (of course) for auto-opening and closing of their louvers and user-set operational times.

If you are upgrading HVAC consider a zone controller with SmartVent e.g. RCS ZCV series (resconsys.com). This will automatically draw in cooler air in the evening to cool house down. But you need a duct from the outside of the house to the return of your air system.

If you are reroofing go to buildingscience.com and find out about installing about 4″ of polyisocyanurate on top of the existing deck and then a new deck on top of that. Also consider a white roof, especially for low slop roofs using TPO membrain rather than asphalt based.

Consider using a small efficient dehumidifier to reduce humidity (and latent heat), this may have more effect than A/C. Ideally position the dehumidifier close to the return of a forced air system to help circulate around the whole house.

What’s worse is, lots of us get home at the same time, so suddenly we all turn on the AC at the same time. All the AC units struggle to get the temperature down, working at maximum power (not it’s most efficient mode and probably shortening the life of the AC) and creating a huge draw on utilities. Since generators take time to power up and power down this peak load means the power companies need to keep more capacity available, which means they generate a lot more power than they otherwise would have to keep that extra capacity online, even when it’s not needed. Power is being sent out over the lines that never gets used. A timer on your AC helps a little, but only until everyone gets one, then you’re right back where you started. NY State (I think it was NYSERDA) actually ran adds asking people to leave the AC on.

Unless you have plants in the windows the middle of the day might also be a good time to have some of your shades drawn. As to trees for shade, remember if you live somewhere cold you don’t want evergreens. As much as you don’t want the sun in the summer you do in the winter.

Also, turning the AC up will in fact get it colder faster. (The reverse doesn’t always work for heating units.) Turning up the AC, at least on the model I have, turns the fan up and pumps more air into the apartment. A heating or cooling system that only turns itself on and off to adjust the temperature won’t adjust the temperature faster on a higher setting. A system that actually adjusts the temperature it’s operating at or adjusts the airflow will.

-I group I used to belong to had a speaker from NYSERDA once. He told an interesting story about a public housing complex. HUD decided it was paying too much in energy bills so they came in and fixed up all the windows, insulated the place, did everything they could to lower the heating bill. The heating bill didn’t come down. Our speaker was called in to figure out what was up. The first thing he noticed was that it was bitterly cold out. The second thing he noticed was that there were a lot of windows wide open. The solution was pretty simple. They lowered the rent, but they individually metered the apartments. Now the tenants payed the heating bill. Those windows closed up.

I live in an apartment where I pay my own heating bill. The problem I have is the complex won’t make sure the place is well insulated. There is no incentive for them, since they don’t pay the bill. The apartment next to mine is has a long, uninsulated wall that borders on an unheated space. (My apartment would too, except I’m lucky enough to have a laundry room next to me instead.) I imagine if the complex and I had to split the bill we’d probably do pretty well.