Using Shade Trees For A More Energy Efficient Home

When buying a brand new home, you will find a trade-off for a number of things.? Obviously, having the ability to choose appliances, flooring, wall paint, light fixtures, and other features of the home and then to move in with everything being new is an amazing feeling.? On the other side, buying a new home typically means that the yard and landscaping is in the beginning stages.? Because of this, you would not have a mature lawn or beautiful shade trees for many years.

Of course, even some older homes are void of shade trees simply because initial owners never had anything planted.? From an aesthetics standpoint, large trees are beautiful and definitely add to a home?s appeal.? However, shade trees serve another purpose, one that would save you money.? For the home that has multiple shade trees that have been planted in the right locations, the home actually becomes more energy efficient.? Because of that, the amount of money you would pay to the utility company each month would be less than a home without shade trees or trees planted too far away to be beneficial.

Keep in mind that along with trees, other types of plants and shrubs, as well as layout or configuration would be helpful in making your home more energy efficient.? Today, any expert who provides consultation for homeowners wanting to create a more energy efficient home would agree that landscaping is one of the key elements to being successful but that too often, people look right past this opportunity.? Doing simple math, you would see that when the house is shaded, the cost of air conditioning in the summer would be less but also, strategically trees and plants would block wind and rain in the winter while not blocking out heat from the sun that helps warm the home, thereby cutting the cost of heating.

The best option for trees is to plant deciduous trees.? If your property has no shade trees, the goal would be to purchase species considered ?fast growing? but you also want trees that would develop full, dense canopies of leaves in the summer so hot UV rays are blocked but also trees that lose all the leaves in the autumn so UV rays can heat the home.? However, along with choosing the right type of trees, it is imperative that the trees be placed where they would be most advantageous.? As far as fast-growing deciduous trees, the following are some excellent considerations.

??? ?American Sycamore
??? ?Autumn Blaze Maple
??? ?Cleveland Pear
??? ?Eastern Redbud
??? ?Ginkgo Tree
??? ?Hybrid Poplar
??? ?Mimosa Tree
??? ?Norway Maple
??? ?October Glory Maple
??? ?Pin Oak
??? ?Quaking Aspen
??? ?Sawtooth Oak
??? ?Tulip Poplar
??? ?Weeping Willow

Remember that proper placement of trees and other landscaping as a means of saving on energy consumption and thereby saving money sounds easier than it is.? Because the earth to sun changes with each season and the earth revolving around the sun just once a year, many factors have to be considered.? This means for a deciduous tree to be efficient in allowing sun through in the winter to heat the home, you would need to know the lowest angles and direction of the winter sun.? In addition, remember that in the winter, heat from the sun is only provided from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm so proper placement is critical.

If you want to plant trees on the south side of the home, evergreens are ideal but only if at maturity they are not so tall that the low angle of the winter sun is blocked out.? However, because there would not be any good afternoon sun in the winter on the north side of the house, you could plant virtually any type of evergreen regardless of height at maturity.? Another possibility for a southern exposure would be to plant a six-foot evergreen rhododendron or if preferred, you could also install a five-foot fence.? For the fence, it would need to be 20 feet in front of a glass sliding door.

For southern exposure, trees would only need to shade a small angle during the summertime so columnar or fast-growing trees work exceptionally well.? For the most benefit in blocking out sun in the winter, a rule to follow is that the taller the tree the better.? Now, when choosing deciduous trees that reach incredible heights, keep in mind that the root system would grow quickly as well so keep the tree far enough away from the home?s foundation to avoid serious problems.? Using tall trees are ideal because along with the sides of the home being shaded to include windows, these trees would also shade the roof, cooling the interior of the home from the roof down.

Experts show that many deciduous trees are capable of blocking out as much as 40% of the sun?s rays.? For this reason, when choosing the tree species and planting, be sure the thickest part of the tree?s branch system is at the point that it would not block out low angle winter sunlight.? The bottom line is that the right trees and proper placement, coupled with shrubs, hanging plants, and even landscape structures such as fences would work incredibly well for making the home more energy efficient.

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