By Teresa Ambord
Put your creative genius to work with some clever landscaping, and you can do more than just cloak your home and property in beauty. You can also cut your energy bills year round, protect your home from wind and sun damage, cut your use of water and pesticides, and help control the noise and air pollution near your home.
The U.S. Department of Energy reports that carefully positioning trees around your home to provide shade can cut your household energy consumption for heating and cooling up to 25 percent. After all, most of the need for air conditioning is caused by sun coming through windows.
One eight-foot deciduous tree costs about the same as one large window awning, yet it can save a bundle in cooling cost, and beautify your yard. Such a tree should begin to provide shade for your window in its first year, and in five years, will probably be shading your roof as well. In general, your initial investment in landscaping could be repaid by energy savings in less than eight years, and the benefits will go on for decades or generations to come. Plus many home shoppers say they will pay more for a home with mature trees.
The shade provided by trees is an obvious benefit. But trees, plants, and ground cover also release water vapor which helps to cool the air (up to nine degrees) before it reaches your walls and windows.
If you have environmental concerns, landscaping should offer a double benefit. Less power consumption means less need for power production. Plus depending on the trees you choose, some require less water and pesticides than others. Katsura, a long-living sugar maple, and Princeton Elms are both fairly disease resistant and are recommended by landscaping experts.
Saving Energy in the Winter Months
Trees and fences provide windbreaks that reduce the icy wind that can hammer your home and cause you to turn up the heat. Here’s what a South Dakota research project showed: if you add windbreaks to the north, east, and west of your home, you may be able to reduce your heating bills an average of 40 percent. If there is only a windbreak on the side from which the wind is coming, you may still reduce your energy use an average of 25 percent.
One caveat: planting an effective windbreak requires some expert advice. If you plant a windbreak where there isn’t adequate space you could end up creating a situation where wind would whip around the end of your trees and pound the house. If you live in an area where the houses are packed densely together, wind chill is usually less of a problem than if you live on a flat, treeless property.
If you are getting ready to build a home, you can take full advantage of energy conservation, not only by what you plant and where you plant it, but also by how your house is positioned on the land. Angle it correctly and you can enjoy natural light without exposing windows to glaring sun or the home to hammering wind. Also consider the house’s proximity to other buildings, fences, pavement, trees, and water bodies, all of those things will have an effect on the climate of your home.
For more about landscaping to cut energy costs, visit this Web site: U.S. Dept. of Energy.
Or ask the guys at This Old House your question: This Old House.
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