Unfortunately the invention of air-conditioning has meant that many people no longer 'operate' their house appropriately. It's so valuable to:

a - open the house up to ventilate as soon as it is cooler outside

b - close the house down as soon as it is hotter outside

c - pay attention to the sun. Let it in when it's cold, block it out when it's hot. External shading is far more effective than internal blinds

I work designing highly energy efficient homes, but people forget that even the more basic homes can be far more comfortable if people are active in the way they live in them.

I totally agree with Sarah Lebner. The houses of today show minimal consideration for environmental considerations. Trees can have an enormous bearing on the external insulation of a home when properly sited and also appropriate to the site.

We live in the country and although not real close to the beach, we still get a sea breeze even on the hottest days usually, so the aircon goes off, curtains are opened as well as windows!! This home is very small, only seven squares with an almost flat roof but I can still make it work our favour.

Our new home, still under construction, has a veranda 360* the home is built from limestone blocks and we intend to fully insulate all the walls, internal as well and we will have blinds and curtains which will be closed as soon as we know the temp is going to be high and I think we will be very comfortable.

As soon as the temp drops, we will open everthing up and I can't wait to see how it all works.

A lot of people say modern standard houses aren't very sustainable but the main failing is poor orientation.

I've built custom, and modified a builders standard plan, to get great performance with good orientation.

Here is a design exercise on a builders standard design.

http://anewhouse.com.au/2014/11/sustainability-modifications-to-a-standard-design/

We have deciduous fruit trees on the west and further away, on the north. No problems with gutters getting leaves, with proper pruning. What those trees do, is provide shade and cooling breezes in the yard, for us and our animals, shade from the low Summer afternoon sun into the west windows, and provide cooling fruit to eat. Fruit has been shown to be excellent for hydration. I like that my kids could just eat it off the trees, and its good for our adult waistlines too. Windfalls get thrown to the chooks.

We're in a large apartment with sliding glass doors facing west (lounge/dining and bedroom 2) and east (main bedroom, kitchen) each with a full length balcony/patio areas (4&5m deep and 6.5m wide).

With this set up we get a fantastic cross breeze that cools down our entire home within minutes of the sliding doors being opened after a cool change arrives in summer.

Our front (western) facing sliding doors get the hot afternoon sun so in summer we put up the outdoor umbrellas (soon to be outdoor awning blinds) that keep the sun off our windows and make entertaining out there more comfortable in the late afternoons reducing glare.

We also find that we chase the sun/shade (depending on the season) when we're eating outdoors and entertaining so for summer, we use our western side in the morning where it's shady and cool and the eastern side of an evening and vice versa in winter.

In the full length planter boxes on our western balcony we've put in rosemary which has grown up and provides a little extra protection against afternoon glare.

We don't have air con and manage quiet well for the majority of summer exception of those two or three days each year that are super hot we close the whole apartment up, draw all the curtains and blinds, turn on the faithful Dimplex tower fan and resort to cool showers, salads and ice blocks.

Our house, in the south eastern suburbs of Perth (so HOT), faces east/west front/back. Our back room has windows or glass sliding doors on all the walls except two internal walls. Needless to say it gets very, very hot. We can't put an aircon in there because there is no wall space with all the windows and doors.

Growing up in Perth before aircons I learnt how to keep a house as cool as possible. Open up everything as soon as the Freo Doctor arrives, keep it open all night then close up as soon as sun is up/hot in the morning. Learn where the cross-breezes are and work with that (opening study window at night helps draw air through the bedroom for example). This works for a few days but eventually the heat wins out.

We have improved things a little with new blinds that keep out the direct sunlight, shade blinds on part of the back patio and aircon in the lounge and bedroom. We also have ceiling fans in the back room, bedroom and lounge.

We are about to move into a house with ducted aircon and a pool - we have never lived with either of these before - should be an improvement! I'll still want to open up the house to the breeze though.

@Jeannie

The "rule" for letting in winter sun through north facing windows is that the overhang (verandah, awning or eaves) must stick out horizontally so its width is half the height of the window. If it is skinnier, it will let in too much summer sun. If it is wider, it will let in less or nil, winter sun.