Different types of trees can help to conserve energy in different ways. Deciduous trees (trees that lose all of their leaves each fall) save energy in summer by shading houses, paved areas, and air conditioners. Small deciduous trees and shrubs, especially those with low, dense branches, also can serve as effective wind barriers.
Large and small evergreen trees and shrubs save energy by slowing cold winds in the winter. They also provide shade, but since they often have branches …
Strategically positioning vegetation in landscapes can maximize energy benefits and save money for homeowners, commercial properties and public facilities. Vegetation can be placed within the landscape to manipulate air movement by
Use vegetation to obstruct or block undesirable winds by arranging dense plantings at a 90º angle to the prevailing winds. Vegetation barriers can be single or multiple rows of trees and shrubs. The air speed is affected by the density of vegetation, the distance …
Urban forests are made up of the trees that exist in urban or suburban landscapes. An urban forest is comprised of trees in many settings – in residential and commercial landscapes, along streets and other rights-of-way, and in parks, greenways and set-aside natural areas. Urban forests have great environmental, economic and social value.
Urban forests can moderate the impacts of urban air pollutants. Trees remove particulates, sulfur dioxide, ozone and other …
Many websites provide tools and information to help home owners, building managers and designers with energy efficiency. Below is a listing of tools taken from links from Energy Program at FedCenter.gov that relate to energy conservation, alternative energy sources and energy management.
Energy Star Home Advisor: This tool provides consumers with customized recommendations for improving energy efficiency and comfort at home.
FEMP Energy and Cost Savings Calculators: for Energy-Efficient Products: These calculators allow users to enter their own input …
Trees provide more than just beauty or a source of wood products. Rather, trees provide an assortment of economic, environmental, psychological and social benefits to humans. Energy savings are one such highly valued benefit or service urban trees provide. Did you know that just 17% shade on a building from trees for example can reduce power bills by $10/ month or that urban trees can lower surrounding temperatures by as much as 20° F? Alternatively, trees can reduce winter heating …
Vegetation affects urban mesoclimate and microclimate by intercepting solar radiation, directing air movement, and affecting air temperature. Microclimate, mesoclimate and macroclimate can be used to describe the climate of a given location. Macroclimate covers hundreds of square miles and parameters such as precipitation levels, temperatures and winds. Mesoclimate covers areas of tens of square miles and describes how conditions vary from the prevailing macroclimate due to the effects of water bodies, topographic features (terrain), and other landscape influences. A microclimate …
Whether it is winter or summer, trees can help you save energy at home.
Shade for Savings
Did you know that only 17% shade over your house during the day translates to a savings of 10 dollars a month on your power bill? Additionally, increasing that same shade to 50% will decrease your power bill by an additional $20 per month. For those without trees, it takes time to plant a tree and generate this shade. However one study estimates …
It is possible to plant a tree that within a few years will provide energy conservation benefits. The length of time between planting and energy conservation savings is a function of the following factors:
Some fast-growing tree species, under ideal growing conditions, may begin providing energy benefits …
Planting trees in urban areas can help mitigate carbon dioxide levels because trees can sequester carbon and offset some energy use for cooling, as some studies have illustrated in California.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB32) requires a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. This amounts to a reduction of 173 million metric tons from the level projected for 2020.
Aerial photography revealed 242 million potential sites for planting individual trees …
