How to Save Energy With Landscaping

Rising energy costs and shrinking supplies of easy-to-get energy are driving us all to try to save energy around our homes and in our day-to-day lives. We’ve all heard about insulation, weather stripping and caulking as ways to save energy, but here’s an idea you may not have come across: using landscaping to help conserve energy. It’s not really a new idea; folks living on the plains have used trees as windbreaks around isolated houses for years, but the idea is now being adopted by people living in more built-up areas as well. Since fall and spring are the best times to plant, you can never start planning too soon. Here are some ideas about how you can use your landscaping to save energy around your home.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Trees that will grow at least to the height of your home
• Low-lying shrubs

1. Understand that trees can help save energy all year-round. In the summer they obviously provide shade, but they also cool the air around them by a process known as evapotranspiration (capturing and releasing water vapor). Trees also provide a windbreak during the winter, preventing cold winds from directly blowing on your house walls and helping keep warm inside.

2. Watch and learn how the sun moves around your home during the day to help you decide on the tree shapes and sizes that will suit your own energy-saving requirements. Try to shade the sides of your home receiving the most sunlight to provide summer cooling. This is generally either on the east or west sides and in some areas the south side as well.

3. Choose deciduous trees with high-spreading crowns to provide shade from the hot summer sun. These trees will lose their leaves in the winter and allow the sun to reach your home and provide some warmth during those cold months. Consider shading the windows, driveways and even your air conditioner unit to help provide cooling.

4. Select evergreens that don’t loose their leaves in winter to provide both shade in the summer and a windbreak all year-round. Position these windbreaks upwind of the prevailing wind direction.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember, when planting trees you need to consider how large they will grow and how close to your home (and your neighbors' homes) they should be planted.
• Slow-growing trees provide the best long-term solution since they develop large, strong root systems that help them stand up to strong winds. Even a small tree (6 to 8 feet) will provide some shade, and in just a few years it will grow and spread.
• Since trees are permanent, it’s a good idea to talk to a trained arborist before making any planting decisions.

[trepond]

on 3/17/2009 Interesting!

[sonni57]

on 3/8/2009 Good ideas thanks for sharing how to save energy with landscaping.

[OBigDaddyO]

on 1/9/2009 Nice.

[acole]

on 9/29/2008 Good info.

[mpparvez]

on 9/28/2008 Amazing piece