If you live in a hot place, say in Texas in a city called Flower Mound, air conditioning is nothing short of necessary. We wonder how people lived in the era before electricity made artificially cooling environments possible, especially on days when your shoes seem to melt into the asphalt.

Hardy pioneers learned quickly that using natural cooling techniques helped them survive the vicious heat and burning sun. Those methods are still perfectly good, and when you accent them with your central air conditioning unit, summer will be a pleasant time.

Natural cooling techniques include a number of factors. Insulation in your home is one of the biggest aids to keeping cool air in and hot air out. Insulation with a high R-value might cost more, but it does the job much more effectively than cheaper insulation. Make sure your outside walls and attic are insulated adequately.

Landscaping also contributes to natural cooling. Deciduous trees planted at appropriate distances from the house shade the building from much of the sun’s rays. In the winter, the bare branches of these trees allow sunlight to warm the house and supplement your heating system.

Strategically opening doors and windows also draws in fresh air while blowing out warm air. When there’s a breeze, open the lower windows on the side of the house into which the breeze is blowing. Block open all interior doors (or they’ll slam shut and block airflow), and open the windows on the upper story on the side opposite. This creates a constant system of airflow. Ceiling and floor fans can help strengthen the cooling effects of breezes.

Use your air conditioner in a limited way. Save it for times when there is no breeze or the temperature is dangerously high. Keep the thermostat set to allow higher temperatures in the house before turning on, and save the cooler temps for night time to support good sleep. By combining natural cooling techniques and air conditioning, you will lower your electricity bill and decrease the load on the grid.

There’s a huge price differential between swamp coolers and central air conditioning, but there are also some distinct advantages to both. When you’re looking for a cooling system for your home, here are some things to consider when deciding between an evaporative air cooler (swamp cooler) or central air conditioning.

In areas of high humidity, like New Orleans or Round Rock, air conditioning units are your best bet. Swamp coolers, though low priced and very economical to run, simply can’t cool the air when humidity levels rise above 40%. Air conditioners, however, are great at dehumidifying the air while cooling it. Freon is pumped through an air conditioning unit, where it changes from a compressed liquid to a gas, drawing heat from the surrounding air and cooling your home. While it is more expense to install a central air conditioning system than a swamp cooler, there are many energy efficient brands and models on the market that have earned awards for energy savings. If you are thinking of getting central air, look for one of these highly rated systems.

For low humidity regions such as the Southwest, swamp coolers are a very viable alternative to more expensive air conditioners. A swamp cooler uses water evaporation to cool inside air. Water is used to soak pads that surround the unit, which draws in air through the pads. The air is cooled by the evaporating water and blown into the home. Newer swamp coolers can use as little as five gallons of water a day. The major drawback to an evaporative cooler is that the hotter the outside temperature, the harder it is to keep the inside of your home cool. You need to keep at least one window open to feed the swamp cooler fresh air, and if the heat is intense, that heat can overpower any cooling effects of the swamp cooler. Hot days just might stay uncomfortably hot, but up until that point, swamp coolers do a grand job.

You can make a wise choice depending on what climate you live in. Air conditioning is great anywhere despite temperature or humidity levels. Swamp coolers are much less costly as long as you live in a region of low humidity.