Create an Energy-Saving Landscape
A Carefully
Developed Landscape Can Reduce Your Annual Heating and Cooling Bills
For example,
deciduous trees—which are bare in the winter and leafy during the
summer—allow winter sunshine to come through their branches when
it's cold and warm your home, and screen out the summer sun when the
branches are filled with leaves. Choose deciduous trees that don't
have a heavy branch structure (which could block the sun), and plant
them on the east, south and west sides of your home for the maximum
shading effect. On the north and west sides of your home, use
evergreens as a windbreak to reduce the chilling effect of winter
winds. And add low bushes or hedges to direct summer breezes toward
your home.
Mature trees
and shrubs "protecting" your home can have a dramatic effect on
utility bills, according to the U.S. Department of Energy Office of
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. An energy-saving landscaping
design can cut heating bills by about one-third during cold-weather
months. The potential savings during warm-weather months are equally
dramatic: A well-planned landscape can reduce an unshaded home's
summer air-conditioning costs by 15 to 50 percent, depending on how
tight the structure is and how well it's insulated.
check out other energy savings ideas
Learn more at
home energy saving ideas by ordering free,
easy to follow guides–the Home Series. Call or email the