Landscaping: Energy Bill Buster
If only your landscaping could do for your bank account what it does for your yard--turn it into a thing of beauty. Well, while landscaping might not make you a millionaire, properly planned landscaping can be a big factor in lowering your home energy bills so you can pocket the savings.
It makes good sense that shrubbery and trees positioned with thought can act as windbreaks, and insulate your home from heat loss in cold weather. Conversely, landscaping with shade trees is a great way to protect your home from interior heat buildup during the summer.
Well-designed landscaping, in addition to giving you energy savings from lowered heating and air conditioning costs, adds visual appeal to both your outdoor and indoor living space, and increases your property?s value. The initial investment you put into hiring a professional landscaping expert and purchasing the proper trees and shrubs will eventually come back to you in the form of lower energy bills.
Hiring a professional landscaping expert is important to the success of your landscaping plan. While you may be able to plant everything yourself, you will need some advice as to which trees and shrubs to buy, and where to position them to provide the maximum energy-reducing effects.
Finding The Best Shade Trees With a little research, you?ll learn that some there are certain trees which have been recommended by various energy commissions as excellent energy savers. Some trees, in fact, can cut your cooling bills by as much as one-fourth. The species of trees which you put in you yard will, of course, determine how much shade your home receives.
You can get a list of recommended shade trees from your municipal energy commission, but if you hire a landscaping professional firm, they will already have that information. They?ll be able to assess which trees will work best in the soil and drainage conditions in your yard.
If you plant your shade trees properly, you landscaping can lower the interior and exterior air temperature of you home by as much as six degrees. The amount of cooling and heating costs you experience, however, will depend on where you plant your trees.
Positioning Your Trees For Maximum Energy Savings
The most effective places to put your trees if you are planting them as energy savers, most landscaping experts agree, is at your home?s northwestern/northeastern and southwestern/southeastern exposures.
If you are considering vines as part of your landscaping, make sure that they are located in a spot where the air circulates freely. Vines, fencing, decorative walls, or any landscaping element which blocks airflow can allow summer heat to build, decreasing the energy savings effects of your overall landscaping.
A professional landscaping firm will be able advisee you on choosing and positioning landscaping features to optimize your energy savings. When your landscaping project is finished, you?ll have both a more beautiful home and lower home energy bills all year long!