If you look into building codes in North America, you'll find out that they were almost all decided by industry board rooms with no public engagement. You don't need a conspiracy to make every cheap and sturdy form of construction illegal, when the people that wrote the regulations were literally owners of Portland Concrete, several timber companies, and several "insulation" companies. You don't need a conspiracy when a group of rich people just acted in their own self interests.

We should be able to build adobe style homes that require almost nothing in the way of sellable construction materials, along with attached root cellars, and ice cellars. That would bring the cost of the average home down to $10,000-20,000, while eliminating the need for HVAC systems, as well as a refrigerator and freezer. Both of which have to use energy to function less well for food than engineering technologies that are hundreds of years old. A fridge can't keep an apple or orange at peak freshness for 6 months. A properly packed root cellar can, even in summer months. A freezer will create freezer burn eventually. A proper ice cellar won't, even during the dead of winter.

And where do I get cornstarch in prison eh? Eh?

...

Oh yeah. I'm not in prison.

I had Venetian blinds in the windows growing up and every morning at just the right time the light would hit the string holes and make cameras obscura. So it faced eastish.

The downside is obviously you get zero natural light. And your neighbors might think you're weird, but they're roasting while you're not so fuck em.

You could probably tape the foil to a piece of cardboard cut to size and that would make it easy to remove once the sun isn't shining straight at your window and put it back before morning. I don't know if the cardboard would affect it, however.

You might also try a "swamp cooler" to cool down with:

Grab a bucket and a fan, and pour ice water into the bucket. Put the fan on behind the bucket and sit in the cool breeze it makes. It's like having your own little a/c unit.

The one downside to this is that the evaporating water will eventually make the air humid and make it harder for your sweat to cool you down, but it works great in the short term.

Breaking the windows might be a nice little side effect when you are doing time.

Velux windows are a (brand of) type of window installed in a sloped roof. Why would they be different than other windows?

I got "one way" reflective film for the window that gets the most sun exposure and it definitely makes a difference, ones provides privacy during the day while still letting me see outside

Would if I could get on the roof!

I use emegency blankets. They also work and are more robust than aluminum foil. They are also cheap.

We did that during my military service in the shitty barracks we had. In the summer silverside pointing outwards to reflect the sun, in the winter silver side pointing inside to keep more warmth inside.

True but I found it easier to do it on the inside in this case.

There's also massive heatwaves in the Netherlands and Germany, there might be more that I don't know about

e: in France, Italy and Britain also. Not in eastern Europe yet, at least not where I am currently

If they lived in Sweden they'd have AC in prison.

I do not. Wish I did; I like Sweden.

Post anywhere if it works. People need to know how to survive heatwaves.

I didn't know lowes sold that sort of thing! ;)