Save Money and Energy with Landscaping; Plant Trees Save Money

Humans have been using the sun to heat their dwellings for centuries. And just as long as they have been using the sun to heat them they have been using the landscaping to shade cool and shield them from the weather.

This is easy to do and can really save you some money on your electric bill. As well as conserve fossil fuels, saving on CO2 emissions.

1. Shade for summer: Plant Large deciduous trees on the east, west and northeast sides of your home. This shades the house in the afternoon and early mornings of summer and will believe it or not, create warmth in the winter. This shade cools your home naturally reducing air conditioning costs by up to 35%. Also when planting you will want to consider shading your air conditioner unit itself. This will help keep it cool and running efficiently. This next tip most people don’t even think of. Plant trees around driveways and hard surfaced patio’s. If you cool these large easily heated surfaces you will considerably cool your yard and your home. Remember trees are always growing. You will have to plan for how big they will get in 3-5 years or even 10 years to reach maturity.

1. Warmth for Winter: In the last section we wanted to shade the house in the summer by planting deciduous trees on the east and west sides of the home. Now that it is winter and the leaves have fallen. The bare branches allow winter sunshine to warm the home and windows. The same applies to the trees once shading the driveway and patio’s now are free to absorb the suns heat and warm the area around your home. To the north and north west of the home plant conifers trees, but not close enough to block any sunshine from reaching the house. These trees will block the winter wind from bombarding the home creating a windbreak. Another tip to remember is to that snow accumulates on the down wind side of a windbreak. So figure out how tall your conifers trees will be at their final height. Then you should try to plant them twice the distance of their height. For example. If you will allow your trees to be 25 feet tall. You will want to plant your trees 50 feet from your rooftop and driveway. This will help position your snow drifts so you don’t have to shovel extra snow

1. Create a Windbreak: Mentioned above we planted conifers trees to slow down the wind. This windbreak shields the home from the strong wind, which can find its way into your home. Proper planting can reduce wind speeds up to 20 mph. these windbreaks can also help you place snow. The most snow accumulates on the down wind side of the trees. In theory by planting them in the correct place you can deposit the snow where you won’t need to shovel it.