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Landscaping is a natural and beautiful way to keep your home
more comfortable and reduce your energy bills. In addition to
adding aesthetic value and environmental quality to your home,
a well-placed tree, shrub, or vine can deliver effective
shade, act as a windbreak, and reduce overall energy bills.
Carefully positioned trees can save up to 25% of a typical
household's energy for heating and cooling. Computer models
from DOE predict that just three trees, properly placed around
the house, can save an average household between $100 and $250
in heating and cooling energy costs annually. During the
summer months, the most effective way to keep your home cool
is to prevent the heat from building up in the first place.
A primary source of heat buildup is sunlight absorbed by your
home's roof, walls, and windows. Dark-colored home exteriors
absorb 70% to 90% of the radiant energy from the sun that
strikes the home's surfaces. Some of this absorbed energy is
then transferred into your home by way of conduction,
resulting in heat gain inside the house. In contrast,
light-colored surfaces effectively reflect most of the heat
away from your home. Landscaping can also help block and
absorb the sun's energy to help decrease heat buildup in your
home by providing shade and evaporative cooling.
Shading and evaporative cooling from trees can reduce the
air temperature around your home. Studies conducted by the
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found summer daytime air
temperatures to be 3° to 6°F cooler in tree-shaded neighborhoods
than in treeless areas. The energy-conserving landscape
strategies you should use for your home depend on the type of
climate in which you live.
Landscaping Tips - Dependent on Geographic Area
- Trees that lose their leaves in the fall (i.e.,
deciduous) are the most effective at reducing heating
and cooling energy costs. When selectively placed around
a house, they provide excellent protection from the summer
sun but permit winter sunlight to reach and warm your
house. The
height, growth rate, branch spread, and shape
are all factors to consider in choosing a tree.
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Vines provide shading and cooling. Grown on trellises,
vines can shade windows or the whole side of a house.
- Deflect winter winds by planting evergreen trees and
shrubs on the north and west sides of your house;
deflect summer winds by planting on the south and west
sides of your house.
Buildings and Trees-Natural Partners
Deciduous trees planted on the south and on the west will help
keep your house cool in the summer and allow sun to shine in
the windows in the winter.
Orientation of the house and surrounding landscaping has a
large effect on energy consumption. A well-oriented,
well-designed home admits low-angle winter sun to reduce
heating bills; rejects overhead summer sun to reduce cooling
bills; and minimizes the chill effect of winter winds. Fences,
walls, other nearby buildings, and rows of trees or shrubs
block or channel the wind. Bodies of water moderate
temperature but increase humidity and produce glare. Trees
provide shade, windbreaks, and wind channels. Pavement
reflects or absorbs heat, depending on whether it is light
or dark in color.
Contact your county extension agents, public libraries, local
nurseries, landscape architects, landscape contractors, and
state and
local energy offices for additional information on
energy-efficient landscaping and regional plants and their
maintenance requirements.
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