How to STAY COOL Living OFF GRID in the Desert (No A.C.) 🏜️ 

Build a large cover over that house that extends way beyond the perimeter of the house. Set it up as a water catchment system and the cover will also absorb a lot of the heat that's currently directly hitting the house.

I've learned a lot while studying Victorian homes. I have noted things they did that helped keep their homes cool in summer. They did the following. 1. Tall ceilings so heat had a place to rise. 2. Large windows for maximum air movement. 3. They used awnings on the outside of the house over the windows to prevent direct sun from entering the rooms and also allowed the air to flow. 4. One style of Victorian home had a central stairwell with a belvedere at the top. This is a raised "room" at the top of the stairs which sits higher than the roof with windows on all sides. It's a tower of sorts. The windows could be opened which would act thermodynamically to draw the hot air out and cooler air in. It took advantage of the nature of hot air to rise. 5.The brick houses also had very thick walls consisting of two or more layers of brick and sometimes stone. These are very well insulated.

In dry climates, you can stay cool as long as you're in the shade. In humid climates, the heat makes living disgusting even with shade.

Being born and raised in Phoenix Arizona, i know this method well. get several of those Mexican wool blankets, then soak them with water, hang each blanket in door ways, the front door and the back door, breezes would cause an evaporative cooler type effect.

Lived in Tucson for 25 years; +1 on the swamp cooler idea when dew point is < 55°. But the simplest tip I learned is from scuba diving: water removes heat from your body 25x faster than air. That's why even with a wetsuit in tropical waters it can leave you shivering after a 50-minute dive. Desert translation: sit in the shade and soak your feet in a bucket of tepid water for 20 minutes. Sucks the heat right out of your body.

TO NATE'S MOM: You must be very proud of your son...he is intelligent, resourceful and seems to have a kind heart. You and his dad did a great job of raising a fine young man. 🙂

As an architect, I can give a few tips to stay cool in the desert without using electricity. It is called "passive design" or "passive solar design". In a hot climate, you want to keep the sun out of the house as much as possible, and use shading, cross ventilation, and stack ventilation as well as thermal insulation and use of cool colors to reflect the sun's rays. There are multiple ways to do this. 1. Buillding orientation - If there are large outcroppings of rock, a cliff, a hill, or a large tree, you can use it for shading your house from the sun, so you'd need to park your tiny house in the shade of the tree or hill or rock as much as possible for shade during the afternoon. Also, notice the direction of winds, and sun path, and orient your house along the east-west axis (the longest part of the house should sit parallel to the axis). 2. Shading - as crazy as this may sound, you can put a large tarp made of canvas over your house using poles, and keeping a large gap (about 2 feet) between the highest point of the house's roof ridge and the ridge of the tarp. This will be the cheapest way. You can use the tarp in smaller sections over different parts of the house for shade. 3. Build small shading devices using light metal or wood frames, and put camouflage type netting strips (use white color or light tan color, or light olive drab, etc., or use spray paint to paint any light pastel colors of your choice) on the frames to provide shade on your building sides, roof, and any area you would like shading. 4. Colors - Use cool colors for paint on your tiny house - the cheapest option is to use lime-wash if your house is not metal cladded - you can use white or very light pastel colors to reflect the sun away from the house, and there are special thermal reflective paints available as well. You can use cooler colors for your metal roofs and metal siding to do the same. 5. Water - This will require some electricity to pump water. Build a water tower, put a water tank on it, and run a water spray pipe using gravity to drip the water on the roof and also on the sides of the building.

A century and a half ago in the Australian desert, houses use to use vines growing over the house to help cool it, you can do the same uses a light frame and 90% blockout shade clothe.

Cover the open windows with a thin white cloth (flat sheets). Then, spray with water and lemon. When the wind blows throw, it gets cooled. Survived a summer in Tucson without electric this way.

Covering windows from the Outside during the direct sun part of day is more proactive than curtains on inside. Hanging a wet blanket in the open window or door creates natural air conditioning..also, covering the uncovered porch will keep the rest of house cool.

Appreciate all the tips if I could give one I’d recommend buying three large poles possibly old telephone poles and stretching a triangle shade tarp over y’all’s house

100% adapting. I have an old heating system in my new house that couldn’t get just a few rooms above 60 degrees in the worst of winter, after living in houses with central heating for a few decades, 74 degrees. I was in three layers of shirts, sweaters, pants, shawls, hats etc. Now just 6 months later 60 degrees is tshirt temps and turn off the heat! 😂

Consider getting an evaporative cooler, aka swamp cooler They don’t really work in humid environments but in dry climates they’re great. Don’t take much power and will add some moisture to the air.

I would put up a canopy , or extra roof over the cabin. Shade is important when living in the desert. It can be 20 degrees cooler under shade.

Love how these videos give you THE MOST BASIC and obvious advice, open windows, catch a breeze, close the shades... And also that NONE OF US watching are off grid or living in tiny homes.

Another trick to consider when designing your cabin is to not only have high windows to allow hot air to exit but also put passive vents in the floors to allow convection to pull cool air in from under the house.

I'm out in the Mojave desert living off grid and I converted a small swamp cooler over to DC power. Both the fan and water pump are now DC... so I run it off my solar and battery bank setup. It's made such a huge difference in my life.

This was my solution in a hot upper flat while 8 mos pregnant: shower in a bathing suit, getting my long hair completely wet. Remained in wet suit as I did household tasks. Kept a fan on too, but with soaked skin and hair was generally good. I called it my "personal swamp cooler".

When I lived in Australia and had 40 degree Celsius days, we would hang woollen blankets over the outside of the windows. The woollen blankets would stop the heat hitting the glass and radiating through.

You should consider running an evaporative cooler to cool things off, since you're in the desert and high humidity isn't an issue. Assuming you can spare the water of course! Ideally, use a brushless DC fan motor and a brushless DC pump running off their own solar PCU and panels , a 400 watt system should be ideal for this. If water is scarce, you could place your solar panels onto a shed like structure and collect additional rainwater from this roof. Plant fast growing trees along the south and west to minimize solar gain and provide passive cooling, hook up your gray water to water these trees. A strategically placed set of 'sails' will also provide cooling by shielding the building from the sun. Cheers!

I live in Texas. It has been 106 degrees mid day for several days. I made window coverings out of reflectix. They have it at Home Depot in rolls 48" wide and 50ft long. I cut it so it fits snug in the window frame and covered them with nice fabric. It really makes a huge difference. In my living area I checked the temperature mid day without the covers. It was 89 degrees. With the window covers it was 75 degrees. Well worth the money. I do have A/C but it doesn't cycle on as much. Thankful!

We lived in our basement for around 7 days following the 2012 derecho, which knocked out our electricity. Our area set a heat record of 104 degrees with high humidity, outside, but it was much cooler below ground. We frankly couldn't have done it without a basement. If it is possible for you to dig an underground enclosure, it would be a godsend to you in the extreme heat.

IM SO INTERESTED!! New Mexican here, thousands of years of heritage here, at least part of my heritage, i want this for my family, THANK YOU for sharing

Yep - A large canopy painted white - built over your house, not touching it but separate so as not to allow for any thermal conductivity would be a great thing to add.

I have seen a lot of great ideas on here. I haven’t seen one that we use when I was a kid. Get some cardboard from your local grocery store. Get some cheap aluminum foil from the dollar tree. Cut the cardboard to fit your window then spray glue the aluminum foil to the cardboard. It will reflect the light to reduce the temperature in the house

For those thin, older windows, a couple of layers of clear bubble wrap truly helps with keeping the heat out while letting the light still come thru. The heat is insulated by the multiple air pockets between layers. I put 2 layers on my etched glass, steel framed (gorgeous but thermally worthless) french doors on my tiny house in Florida and boy, did it make a difference! And its like frosted glass so nobody can 'see" in but I still get my daylight. Thanks for the great video!

When I was a child, we lived in New England. No central A/C. In the Summer, up on the third floor of a tenement building, if a breeze wafted through the windows we were lucky. But, in order to fall asleep and try to smear off some of the humidity, Mom had us soak a wash rag, ring it out and wipe ourselves down with it. I would re-soak mine and lay it across my belly. Naturally about an hour later I'd be awakened by the heat and do it all over again.

In your building always have a window at the top to release the heat. Having a shelter that actually covers your living space or camper. Spray foam is wonderful stuff. Have a great day.

Electrolytes; calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium. Super important in a dry state. You can drink a ton of water but if you don't have these, you'll still feel dehydrated. I live in Colorado and this makes a big difference. And as it gets hotter, you may want to put up reflectix strategically when the sun is hitting west of east. Thanks for the great video!

As a longtime frugal resident of Tucson, I've found that having a fan blowing directly on me where I'm sitting or working keeps me comfortable, but this is assuming you have enough solar to run a fan. Not a rotating fan, but one pointed right at you, like a Vornado. This kind of fan also works like a ceiling fan if you point it straight up in the middle of a room (or you can angle toward a wall to circulate the air--check the manual for ideas), and the circulating air in the room makes a big difference in the comfort of a warm room. The other tip is to wear a "sun shirt" type of shirt that you wet and wring out. It will dry in about 30 minutes but it will cool you down immediately. The thicker parts--cuffs and collar and front button placket--will stay damp for a while and you'll be amazed with how much more comfortable you stay. Once it dries, re-wet and cool down again. If you're in a dry heat, as you are most of the time, getting wet and allowing yourself to drip dry in a fan might even leave you feeling a little too cool!

I was born in Albuquerque. Off and on throughout my childhood, my father moved us all over the country. But New Mexico has always been my home zone.

I am fascinated with the Yakhchāl, a desert ice house, and the Barajeel, wind-catching towers. I'd like to see those techniques used in modern desert construction.

I own a van permanently parked on my land in the Mojave Desert. I love all of these ways people have actually stayed cool without using large power draws. I use 20-40 watt fan inside the van or sit outside in shade if there is any breeze. Also, simply running water over your head and letting it run over your body uses only several ounces of water and allows air to cool body temps. If you have enough solar to run a freezer, cold gel packs are AMAZING!

Just a couple suggestions: Get rid of the inside white cotton curtains on all the windows for the summer days and put in wood blinds or insulated curtains that blackout the sun. Put shade cloth roll up blinds outside each window to keep the sun out or use black film to keep the windows dark and the sun from penetrating inside. Build and place shade cloths awnings on each window that roll in and out or install or make a deck enclosed with shade cloth roof to keep the sun from directly coming into the windows. Maybe a steel roof on the cabana might work because it appears to snow in your area.

The best ways to evolve with your climate. Like people that have been in New Mexico for 100s of years.

You guys need exterior roller shades or shutters to block direct sunlight from hitting the windows. Keeping the sun off the windows would be the biggest improvement or building a big covered porch around the entire perimeter of the house.

Remember, if it's 90 outside and 80 inside, DO NOT open the doors and windows. It's simple thermodynamics, heat goes to cold, and eventually it will be 90 inside. The breeze you feel cooling you off is the hot air rushing in to try to equalize things.

I stick my head in the fridge too for a couple seconds or more, then close it and use my ice packs on my head, shoulder, and everywhere then I stay cool for an hour or so😊

New Mexico is such a beautiful state

This is some awesome advice. People don't realize just how much control they have over there house temperature just by utilizing the windows they have already installed. Cross breeze is something that many people forget about once they install the air conditioning. I live in the city, and at night when it's 50°, I still hear people's air conditionings running. I have no idea how they would survive one day in the desert. Excellent tips! Especially the popsicles.

Things I do to keep my body temperature down is using a spray bottle to keep my hair wet. Also the back of my shirt wet. Also place your feet in a bowl of cool water. I do these things throughout the day. I enjoyed your video and reading everyone suggestions. I have been living off-grid in the high desert of Central Oregon for the last 10 years. It can be rough at times but it's so worth it

I don't know anything about living off grid, I'm just watching this out of curiosity. Something that I can definitely agree with you on is dry heat being preferable to humid heat. I'd rather be hot and dry all day than hot and sticky. I can drink water as I need to but I can't unstink myself without taking a shower.

Kudos to you guys for sticking together while experimenting.

A couple more things I've learned: Re: cross breeze... it helps a LOT if windows/doors can be opened on adjacent sides of the house. i.e. North/South openings are okay, North/East is better airflow (surprisingly), and 3 or more sides with openings is amazeballs. Open the doors/windows in the cool of the night and morning to get everything inside as chill as possible, then close everything up while it's still 65ish if possible. The house sometimes holds cooler temp that way farther into the afternoon. If the wind allows it, hang soft strips off the eaves on the sunny sides of the house. (Fake vines hung a few inches apart, strips of material a few inches apart, etc.) It mimics leafy tree & provides intermittent shade to the house. Any ways you can create a shade barrier between sun and the house roof/siding will keep the house cooler. Surprisingly, even shading the ground around the house (like suspending a tarp a few inches above the ground so the air can blow under) will reduce the amount of heat absorbed by the land around the house, keeping the whole area cooler. Could also freeze 2 plastic water jugs & alternate daily between them to add icy air to distribute via a 5 watt fan in the warm afternoons/evenings before it cools off outside. Summertime. Woot.

I'm a New Mexico desert rat who lived in hot and humid Japan for 20+ Years. I'm in NM now and I love the dry heat of the desert. You will get used to it. I don't know if you have thought about it but having a half or completely underground basement is great in the desert. There are many geothermal ideas and things you can do to stay warm and cool. Best of luck to you!

These are all great ideas. And they all remind me of why I live On Grid

I grew up in NewMexico. Before air condition. In the car we had 4/40 cooling. Four windows down. Drive 40 mph. We did have a swamp cooler which was evaporated air. There were big pads soaked in water and a fan blew through it forcing the cooler air into the house. We also grew trees near the houses to seriously provide shade and add moisture to the air. People went outside and sat in slatted garden chairs that let the air move around your body. Popsicles were great way to hydrate and drop your core temperature. Then there was my favorite way to climb one of those trees and read books. Or on a quilt beneath the tree. Also we would stop at a gas station on long trips. Between Alamogordo to Truth or Consequences to see our grandparents and get one of those little bottles of Coke in a chest dispenser where the bottles hung by the top lip on a rack. Just cracking open an impossibly old bottle of Coke was so refreshing. Then grandmother had ice cold Dr Pepper waiting for us in T orC. She did her cooking early in the morning to beat the heat. And the doors with screens were opened for a breeze to come through. I’d look into a swamp cooler. The fan could be solar. The water was never that much and you didn’t run it all the time. Timeline. 1955 To 1975.

I live fulltime in a 35ft Class A and I invested in a portable swamp cooler. I love boondocking in the Arizona desert in the winter but it can still be really warm at times. The draw back to the swamp cooler is the water consumption. But like you said the hottest part of the day is between 3-6 so I just run it in the late afternoons as needed. I have 500 watts of solar and 200 amps of lithium batteries. Work great!

I agree so much with you about habit, what one is used to. I live in a country that is probably hotter than the US. Air conditioning just isn't a thing here like it is in north America or Dubai. I admire you and other people in New Mexico so much for going against the energy consumption grain and suffering a little for the sake of the planet. How do we cope without aircon ? In the heat of summer when we can't sleep at night some may use an electric fan and sleep in wet pajamas. Quickly you are icy cold, but the minute the fan is off and your clothes are dry the feeling of oppressive heat is back with a vengeance. People sleep outside if there is a safe place to do so. In desert countries they often sleep on the roof. I use curtain management with electric fans to keep cool enough to work during the day. I'll also use window and door management, closing the windows during the heat of the day, and opening up as soon as the earth outside cools a bit, and when it is palpably hotter inside than out at night I'll open the front and back door for through flow. My plans for future temperature management are building a verandah on the west side of the house which will double as outdoor bedroom and kitchen in summer and shading the north walls with deciduous or annual vines. My terracotta roof is the main source of heat at night and some reflective insulation foil on the ceiling may help a lot. My parent's house is built from mud brick with very thick walls and is wonderfully cool in summer. It is also a Victorian era building. I noted some of the climate management used by Victorians mentioned in the comments. My parents house has very high ceilings and all the sash windows used to have shutters which let air through but kept the sun off the glass. It has a passage sweeping through the center of the house that allows a strong draft to blow through at night. Have you checked out the genius traditional system of wind catchers used by desert dwelling people in north Africa ? Sometimes the stream of air is sucked over an underground water cistern to cool it. I've also seen a construction in which wind blows in through a terracotta grille that is made of hollow bisque fired tubes filled with water. If I could start again with getting a house I'd look to indigenous architecture and build my own with thick adobe or use mud brick domes for roofing. People who have lived in deserts for thousands of years without modern technology have the best ways of controlling indoor climates.

As a person who lived in southern Arizona their whole life, I'd like to add to the suggestions of windows/door placement (RE: 7:05). If the are around and in front of the door/window is shaded, the air that blows in (cross breeze) will also be significantly cooler. Having strategically place shading can really help, more than I can explain in a YT comment. (RE: 12:45) Shade trees help immensely, I'm very surprised to see no trees at your property. (RE: 8:20) Showers are ok (don't towel off fully), but with water scarcity in the desert, just getting damp helps. (RE: 11:49) Swamp coolers are cheaper than AC and work great in dry climates.

You need shade. I'm using Coolaroo solar shades on the hot side of the house. You block the heat from ever touching the glass but still can see out. Planted some trees for shade (using grey water) but those take time to grow. Lots of good suggestions in the comments.

I have heard great things about white roofs and window shades/awnings for passive cooling. Instead of absorbing the solar energy the white roof will reflect it instead. This helps keep everything inside the house cooler and also the area outside the house cooler too!

Something we do in the EU is providing shade to our windows from the outside, it being from an outdoor curtain or just the windows shutter, it's much more effective than indoor curtains to prevent heat from entering your home.

A small vent in the roof or a windows as high as one can be installed can do wonders. This once was extremely common in many homes and buildings. Hot air rises, give it a way to keep going.

You're in the perfect climate for a swamp cooler. Maybe one is in your future. Also, another tip -- mist yourself with a spray water bottle regularly throughout the hot part of the day to dampen your clothes. Really helps.

If you can erect a patio/garage roof over your house/cabin to provide shade over the entire structure, your house will become MUCH, MUCH, cooler. Be sure to leave airflow between the secondary carport roof and your house roof. If you build the secondary roofing out of solar panels, you can generate enough electricity to run an air conditioner.

We put solar screens on our house down on the Gulf Coast. There is a noticeable difference when we have them on. They also offer some privacy and were super cheap.

Beautiful land! Great views, vegetation and topography. Also good insight on the importance of thermal mass and solar exposure. The door setup for best airflow and ventilation is what is known in the Southern US as a Shotgun Shack. Nice to see a new generation discover the wisdom of past desert dwellers and integrate with current technology and lifestyles. Also, you are a very lucky man to have the beautiful desert flower Shannon as your companion.

My hat is off to you and Shannon. I grew up in southern Mississippi, not to far from New Orleans, without AC, and the summers sucked. To this day, I HATE the summer and I hate heat. It's nice to see y'all making things work for you.

You are young, I grew up without air conditioning and went to high-school without it. I am 70 years old

There's a guy on YT that put vents in the outside walls at the ceiling & floors of his home, which could be opened & closed as the temperature got hot/cold. The way it worked is he'd open those vents & the heat would escape from the top & draw cold air from the ground at the same time. He actually had a thermometer & recorded the temps & showed how it drew the cold air in from the floor & released hot air out the ceiling. It was pretty slick; plus, the vents were easily opened/closed at will, so in the winter, when you don't need them, close 'em up tight!!

I've seen desert homesteads on television, but you actually have hills and scrubs. Such a place can be more easily cultivated. It's also nice to have such scenery rather than the open desert where you see mostly dirt and sand for miles. But as I understand sometimes the land is free or very cheap and so it draws self reliant types. I live in Florida and it's hot and humid enough for me to want to leave during the summer, but I like the winter and fall.

I give you guys so much credit for keeping a positive attitude in the harsh conditions you're experiencing. ✌

Tall double hung windows are great for passive cooling. Having the ability to open the lower half of the windows on one side of a house and the upper half of the windows on the other side of the house will create natural air movement. The hotter air flows out the upper window and the cooler air fills the void from the lower window. This works even without any breeze from outside.

I moved from Louisiana to the Mojave in 1986 . Nobody had air conditioning in the desert . They had swamp coolers which worked surprisingly well . I don't know how much power your solar panels generate yet if you can run a fan and put an ice pack behind it then you have cool air . Just a thought .

I did something similar in the Mojave Desert in 1980-1990. We were SW of Victorville. We had a 1,000 water tank, 2 solar panels, a wind generator, a battery bank, and a backup generator.

Good tips! I get bad headaches when I'm in excessive heat/humidity/sun (I live in Texas so it's unavoidable and I'm talking about severe heat induced migraines). I take about 1/8 to 1/4 tsp. Celtic or Himalayan sea salt with a cup of cold water when I feel a headache coming on, then lay down and rest. My headache usually goes away in about 30 minutes. Drinking just water never helps. Sometimes I even drink diluted pickle juice. Weird, I know, but it works for me. It stopped leg cramps, too. I learned to do outside work in the early morning and late afternoon and stay out of the heat in the middle of the day.

I have a tip for when you use the ice packs. Keep them right on your corotid and femeral arteries, the packs will cool the blood in the arteries and then the arteries will deliver that cooled blood all over your body. It's how we help keep our horses cool after a workout in the heat.

On the sunny side of your house, open a window or door no more than 1 to 2 inches, that's it. But on the shady side of your house, open the windows and doors all the way. The heated side of your house will draw in cool air to balance and cool off the hot side, thus cooling your house at least 10 to 20 degrees cooler. When the sun changes to the other side of your house, do the opposite and it will reverse the air draw into the house. I have done this for years and it works! Also, get copper colored window tint for your windows, it will cut down the heat by about another 15 to 20 degrees. Hope this helps.

I have been renovating our family home in Douglas Arizona, not far from you. I have found that high insulation is key along with restoring the double hung windows. I keep them open all night and close them at 5am. It stays cool until about 2pm. A project I was thinking about is digging a long and deep ventilation tunnel from the backyard to the living room...harnessing the cool geothermal soil temperature. Thanks for sharing your video and off grid adventure!

All the best to you and your wife! I’m an old widow in Florida and enjoy seeing what your life is like. Right now it’s super hot and humid here and I can’t imagine living without A/C. Your lifestyle is fascinating!

I lived in Darwin Australia, in a caravan with a big roof over the top. Kept the van cool. In Australia you will see lots of homes with a secondary roof over the top of there dwelling to keep the sun out. They also open there windows at night to cool the indoor ambient temperature, then in the morning close the house up completely, doors windows curtains, this keeps the house cool for most of the day, then they open the house in the afternoons when the house heats up....cheers

My dog had a hard time in the desert heat. I used to keep wet towels in the fridge so during the worst times I'd always have a cold towel to put over him. He loved it and was visible grateful - from panting to a contented sigh. My father lived remotely in East Africa in the 50s (actually, I was born at that time). He had a 'fridge' outside with walls made of two layers of chicken wire with about a foot of volcanic pumice rocks between. there was a water tank above that dripped water to run down the rocks. The breeze passing through the fridge (shed) kept it cool enough to keep the meat he hunted for a couple of days. On the equator it is never cool.

You could always use retractable canvas window awnings too. That way they block the sunlight on hot days, but can also retract them and capture some heat on the colder days.

Have you considered covering the front porch? It looks like the previous owner was moving in that direction. It looks like there was an effort to develop greenery along one side at one time to eventually create shade. Some other off grid thoughts involve creating limited natural air conditioning via digging underground air tubes…pulling outside air through underground air tubes that cool air naturally and blow into the house. It still requires using electric power for the fan but it would be less than real AC. If you limited the use between 11-3, it would at least be at peak solar.

When we built our house, we put in a window on the west side that opened from the top to let the hot air out. We also put in an attic fan and it would take really hot air out and in 10 minutes the whole house would be as cool as outside. I cut off the tops of socks, get them wet and put them on my wrist. That helps cool me down quick. Or a wet rag on the back of my neck. Cold drinks. Shade, Shade Shade. The more shade, the cooler your whole area will be.

In hot climates, consider building a "double roof" It's above the regular roof and provides shade.

Adapting is the bestest of all.

You should get a stock tank to cool off in. Also an outdoor sleeping area.

I think the biggest advantage of the "tiny house" is that it can be re-positioned throughout the year. You can face it away from the sun during the summer yet towards the sun during the winter when you need the extra warmth. I've seen some custom cabins that can do that but I'm sure they were much pricier than a tiny house.

I love your video! Great information and introductory film on your lifestyle and how it works for you!

Shade material like the kind they have in garden centers is invaluable. It gets torn up in high winds, but worth buying. Get a bulk roll from garden supply and grommets for custom shading!!!drops temp about 15 - 18 degrees. Sink some post around your structure and put up tarp to keep full direct sun off. At least until You build an adobe type of structure. I would add swales around buildings to capture groundwater and maybe gets some drought tolerant trees going. They have mini split ac systems that can be powered by 12 or 48 volt solar systems (around $750.00) that seem to be legit, might be worth looking into.

You might consider going to Harbour Freight and purchasing shade tarps to install over your front arbor to provide shade to your windows. Also, the side of your back porch looks to be set up for a tarp as well. Love all of your tips and suggestions. I haven't used my AC in at least 7 years, and last Friday it was 104°F (40°C) w high 90°s until today. I use many of your tips, but I also have electricity so I can run fans. I have purchased a couple of fans that can run on tool batteries or USB-C recharge in case of rolling black outs. Plus my Jackery batteries stay charged for the same reason. Taking advantage of the delta breezes helps keep the power bills lower. Sleeping in a hammock during the toasty season really makes a difference as well

Great advice! I tend to forget the things I learned when I was younger in how to stay cool. It's part of the offgrid life. I am in the Texas desert and understand. It's all about adjusting and not trying to tame nature. We are resilient!! Takes time to get use to it. Thanks for the information. ☮️🙏☯️ Stay strong, safe and healthy

Back in the day, many houses had a front or back porch, which helped a lot in the hot months, especially in the early evening when the house temp was highest. Heard many stories of people sleeping on a back porch on the very hottest nights.

Very helpful video, glad that these considerations are being discussed in detail. You're on the right track! Liked & subbed

Best best way is to keep the sun heating any surface area of the building. In stead of curtains, use bamboo blinds on the outside of windows and off the windows allowing air to circulate. Way cheaper than internal window coverings

Knowledgeable. Generous video. Thank you.

Super cool! Thanks!

If your travels find you in the SW corner of New Mexico seek out the town of Hachita. It's along the Mexico border and is an old Railroad town. The interesting thing is how the worker houses were built for wind circulation. Also, the double steel roof is an interesting detail. The Mormons figured this out in the late 1880's in Utah as a way to keep the house cool. These are stick wall houses and not adobe. Very interesting way to keep the house cool using only circulation. Another thing is porches around the house as a way to cool air before it enters the house.

Especially in the summer, you should build shade (as others have suggested) such that the sun never hits the walls. So shade down to the ground. In the winter, the sun will be lower and shine in underneath to help warm your buildings. One way to do this is to have a trellis and grow deciduous vines on it (grapes, passion vine, etc). Then the degree of shade automatically matches the seasons. Also, if you have room to do so, you may wish to put in a solar-powered thermosiphon for air cooling. It has 3 (or 4, depending on how you count) parts to it: 1) A black chimney pipe (no longer than 4 ft above the roof) that comes in on the sun-facing side - this is the exhaust pipe 2) An air intake for the exhaust pipe that is near floor level (could be a curtain hanging down such that the air flows under it, or just extend the pipe down to the desired level). This is important, as you want the air to flow down low by where you live, and not up by the roof where you won't feel it. 3) A buried air intake pipe that enters the building near floor level and is buried 3 ft under the surface of the soil, and runs for about 60 ft in length 4) A shaded/protected air inlet for your intake pipe (a simple shack will do, with a grate to make sure stuff doesn't get into the pipe) The way it works is that the sun heats the chimney pipe and creates an updraft. That draws air out of the building, and new air in via the intake. The intake air is cooled to a consistent temperature around 55 F by running underground for that distance. This doesn't require any outside breeze or energy, just the heat of the sun.

Wow you actually have neighbors. Amazing

Thank you for sharing this brother

If it gets too bad, you can try putting some reflectix in the windows as well! I used to do that a my former apartment to reduce my power bill from cooling. I thought it worked really well! It worked well in our camper van too 😝

back in the early 70's I was stationed at 29 Palms Ca. I met one very wonderful Lady. She taught me to put aluminum foil on the OUTSIDE of the windows (I use dish soap in spray bottle of water to attach it like tint however it is temporary and easy to remove) it will cut down the heat an unbelievable amount !!!!. And keep your hair and shirt WET. I keep a small pump up sprayer on hand to mist myself. SHADE SHADE SHADE

I lived off-grid in Southern California for years and I second all of these. The one thing I would add is that if you can manage stone flooring when you're building, you will definitely appreciate it when it gets up above 100 degrees. My floor was stone tiles and I used to lay down and press my face against the floor to cool off when it got REALLY hot (115 degrees was not uncommon in my area). The biggest thing is opening and closing blinds/windows/doors at specific times like you mentioned, though!

My Grandma had an outdoor shower/in the garage. They way you don't get humidity in the house and mud. They lower the humidity the cooler. In a desert that is less of a problem.... It would be the opposite. A big tank of water without a cover in the middle should help cool.

I can't believe you didn't talk about having a shade-roof above the building... or at least painting the roof white... or earth-berming a couple walls... or a solar chimney to give airflow to the house during non-windy days. Also, a fan to blow air in a swamp cooler would use VERY LITTLE electricity... maybe 20 or 30 watts, and produce a LOT of cooling in the dry desert.

Black-out curtains help A LOT. My room faces the sun and they save me from burning up. I drink tons of water all day long. I personally like those real thin shirts that help wick your sweat off. When I grew up we didn't have air conditioning we had electricity and that was it everything else was off-grid. Our heat, outhouse, and water catchment system. I was lucky to have a fan. You get used to the heat it takes some time but you do. I'm so ready to move into a tiny house now and far away from people.

Thanks for the information I live in my van in Arizona off grid and your video was really helpful thanks for sharing