If I had green fingers I might have tried out humidity-absorbing plants to dry the air in the bedroom. Apparently, there are indoor plants that can do this.
Whilst I am sure that would help, in the commercial setup its is a cross flow room effect so cool moist air in warms up by collecting the heat in the room and then exhausted to outside again. The extract fans were passively driven by airflow over the roof with a 35watt electric motor should the wind not be blowing. Overall the effect was very good.
Well, the so called “air plants” certainly do that but, in my experience, they don’t absorb a lot! (Used to deserts I think)
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Solar film made a huge difference to our garret in Hérault - 34. A few hundred euros for 2 velox windows and a double glass door on to the balcony. You can get many different colours or clear from 67% reduction of uv to 90%. We insulated the ceilng for €1 (special government deal a few years ago) and also the cave roof. The following year we bought a Klarstein indoor a/c and use it on the handful of unbearable days of the “canicule”. It is such a dry heat here that the internal water tank never fills and the drain is uneccessary. The extracted hot air must carry some of the water vapour with it. From memory using all these methods the room temperature is easily maintained at 24°c and lower if we want it when returning to a hot house when we have been out. It seems noisy when you first turn it on but you soon get used to it and never even think about it. It has turned an apartment that was unlivable in July and August to into a comfortable place year round. The heat drove my girlfriend to live elsewhere during summer until we made these changes.
Its the infra red heating that is more important to block inless you have sensitive art or photos to protect. Ceramic films do reduce heat gain considerably.
It’s OK, you can call me Al. 
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That’s a great trick, will have to try that.
If you have a well-insulated home, my dad opens all the windows around 7am to get the cool air in, then closes everything once the temperature has dropped, including the shutters. He barely uses his fixed reversible aircon (this on the Côte d’Azur).
Alternatively on a bigger budget install solar panels+aircon so that your electricity bill doesn’t skyrocket. The advantage is you can use the aircon when the sun is the strongest making best use of your electricity production.
Despite France’s decision not to include multifoil insulation in their calculations for energy inspections they fail to understand the benefit that reflecting the summer heat out. 2/3rds of my house has multifoil to reflect heat back out, so far this treated portion averages 23c and peaked at 25c from memory. The untreated 1/3 still reaches 32c so we have to keep the doors closed from one section to the other. That has removed the need for AC but I am also looking at other ways with evaporative cooling having seen just how effective it was on an industrial install, more than twice as efficient and nearer 2.5x as effective. With low energy. Obviously if you have small air to air reversible heat pump then its an easy solution especially with solar but fabric first has to be first consideration.
I see that if you buy the Klarstein you get a 60 day cooling-off period. I would hope it would last longer than that given the price.
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Hahaha, I have one of the ice cube makers, very good.
We have three ceiling fans - Two from Casafan(a German company) and another Spanish fan. All are very silent and efficient.
All of them are fairly close to the ceiling, coming down maybe 30cm max. Two have variable LED lights built in, which is nice, and they are controlled with remotes. Variable speed, reversible, and the Spanish one has a timer.
The arrangement of the flat means that we can have the one in the north facing rear bedroom pushing air down to the floor and through the hallway, while the south facing front fan is pulling air up. With the shutters closed at night there is a nice breeze.
Désolé. Exactly - infra red - brilliant.
This is the third year so touching wood!
Agree about evaporative. It was very common in Western Australia. With a “DRY” heat in summer. I had fully ducted a/c to every room. The unit sat on the roof and had mains water constantly delivering water to the top of the large air filters. The water dripped slowly through the filters so the hot air was drawn in through them. Worked very well and cheaply for many years until I left.
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The setup I was involved with was an Australian unit, the dry heat of Aus was one of the first comments/questions I asked as this was to be a London based setup with more humidity. Thats when I was taken on a tour of other facilities to take a look at the units in place and running and I have to say it was very impressive.