Creating shade is a simple, cost-effective way to make your home more comfortable, writes Sarah Pickette.

With summer around the corner and electricity prices creeping up, now is a good time to think about what you can do around your home to keep it cool, while maximising its energy-efficiency.

Passive cooling, which is achieving thermal comfort without using airconditioners or fans, is the most affordable and environmentally friendly means of keeping the temperature down inside your house. It's also achievable (to varying degrees) no matter where you live in Australia.

Exterior shading plays a vital role in cooling your home passively. "How you shade your home will depend on its aspect," says Brisbane architect Dion Seminara, "but all homes will benefit from having external shade over walls with windows on the eastern and western sides of the home."

According to the Federal Government's Your Home sustainable building manual, direct sun can generate the same amount of heat as a single-bar radiator over each square metre of surface. Shading walls that are exposed to eastern and western sun can thus eliminate up to 90 per cent of this heat.

"Shading can be achieved in one of three ways," says Seminara. "You can use large eave overhangs, sunshades or awnings over windows, or external landscaping." Used in conjunction with a well-designed layout and good insulation, shading can be an effective way to keep your power bills in check.

Eaves with an overhang of 900mm work well on a home's northern and eastern aspects. Bifold or sliding aluminium shutters can be useful on the east, too. While vertical sunscreen devices that help shade walls, such as retractable venetians or low-maintenance aluminium blade louvres are a good option for the western side of a building, says Seminara.

If you're opting for a fabric awning, your choice of material will impact on how much heat reduction you'll achieve inside. "The thicker the fabric, the more heat is reflected," says Jenny Brown, Marketing Manager for Luxaflex.

"Traditional canvases offer the best energy efficiency, but for a lot of people a view to the outside is also important. In that case you should choose a sunscreen fabric that offers view-through while providing good solar-optical properties."

Looking for more inspiration? Check out our Eco-living section.