“Not everything I did is going to work everywhere. For example, the evaporative cooler. Those don’t work at all in humid climates. However, in dry climates the energy gobbling A/C is completely replaced with an evaporative (swamp) cooler. A new evaporative cooler costs $550. But you can get them used for $100 and completely rebuild it for $50.The evaporative cooler pays for itself in 2 to 3 months. “
Right there is about 3/4 of your electric savings.
Steven Harris at solar1234.com has some easy and effective methods of reducing your heating and cooling expenses.
He has a book called “How to really cool your house” which talks about evaporative cooling for your roof and attic space, since a house heats from the roof down.
I just put in the radiant barrier sheathing with a new roof,
and it’s supposed to block 97% of the radiant heat transfer.