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During these past days of July 2022, we’ve been surrounded by global news about heatwaves, record-breaking temperatures, emergency heat warnings, and other ‘burning’ updates about the climate emergency we’re experiencing.
Specifically, in Europe, temperatures keep going up as days go by, and new records are constantly set. The U.K., a country known for its mild and misty weather, has just hit over 104 degrees, while Germany surpassed 100 degrees this month. A handful of other European countries are also witnessing the hottest days in their histories and living under the extreme risk of fire dangers.
Not just in Europe, but right here in New York (U.S.), we’re going into our scorching hot days with temperatures going up to almost 100 degrees. In some neighborhoods where humidity is high, residents can even feel 5-10 degrees hotter than the reported temperature.
So, what can New Yorkers do to relieve the heat during these days? Meltek has got something up our sleeves and would like to share that with you!
Stay hydrated
Keeping yourself hydrated is the most important thing while dealing with heat waves and extremely high temperatures. You'd like to make sure you drink an average amount of 2 liters a day to maintain hydration and stay safe. Trust us, dehydration is the last thing you'd want on a summer day of over 100 degrees.
Cool shower
Aside from drinking enough water, cool showers are also a way of cooling off your body since they can help cool down your core heat. If you want to make it even more satisfying, try using peppermint bath soaps. Coolness guaranteed!
Put cool rags/towels on your neck or your wrist
Wrapping cool rags or towels around your wrist or on your neck is a very great and effective way to treat yourself in the extreme heat. Interesting scientific fact - these locations on your body are very close to your blood vessels, so doing this trick can lower the temperature of your body pretty well!
Close the curtains/blinds
Closing the curtains is one of the top-notched ways to lower the temperature in your house and make the environment cooler for you. Keeping the sun from running through the window and directly into your home will help avoid heating up the place.
Another thing you can do is to use blackout curtains. This option can be very useful in blocking the Sun's heat and keeping coolness in the house, especially during the daytime. Make sure to consider it! Here's where you can get them on Amazon.
Power outage is, by all means, the last thing you'd want on extremely hot days. No A/C, no fridges for frozen treats, no fans! Knowing that you surely don't want that, let's look into how we avoid this together.
Don't set your thermostat too cool
It is very tempting to set your thermostat at a low temperature to have the home extremely cool, curl up in bed and enjoy cold drinks. However, in a heatwave or during peak hours of hot days, that can lead to overloaded power grids and eventually power shutdown.
Thus, to keep staying cool all the time, remember to set your A/C at 76-77 degrees minimum and/or use fans!
Avoid using too much electricity during peak hours
During these peak hours, or so-called swarm events, demands usually exceed supply, and fast-acting polluting power plants have to be activated.
So why is it so bad? For 2 main reasons. Firstly, these generators are extremely detrimental to our environment as it pollutes much more compared to other ones. Secondly, you have to pay a much more expensive and HIGHER rate for the electricity generated during these timeframes and summer super-peak times.
