How to stay cooler in the summer, warmer in the winter

Save Energy & Cut Costs

Landscaping is the most natural way to keep your home cool in the summer and warmer in the winter. With properly placed trees, shrubs, and landscape structures, you can:

• Reduce your energy bill
• Increase your property values
• Add beauty to your yard
• Save up to 25% of the energy a typical household uses.

Tips to Save Energy

• Shade the roof of your home from the afternoon sun by placing deciduous trees on the west and south side of the home. Trees shade the home from the heat of the summer and can reduce the surrounding air temperatures up to 9 degrees
• Smaller trees can be planted closer to the house to shade walls and windows.
• Shade air conditioner compressors without constricting the airflow and you could reduce the temperature inside the home as much as 3 degrees.
• The use of wall hugging vines and shrubs serve as extra insulation against summer heat and cold winters.
• Man made walls or tall trees, such as evergreen, planted along the south and west side of the property can ease hot/cold winds which reduce temperature extremes on the home.
• Shade patios and walkways with trellises or hedges. This cools the air before it reaches your home’s walls and windows.

According to the Department of Energy, the average return on a new landscape investment as means of reducing energy cooling is less than 8 years. One more reason to plant a tree.