Use Landscaping to Conserve Energy

Landscape designers know proper placement of plants can not only add beauty to your home, but can also drastically cut your energy use to cool or heat your home. Carefully positioned trees can cut your energy costs by 25%, adding up to a savings of $100 to $250 annually. Strategically placed trees can reduce the summer daytime temperature around your home by 3-6 degrees. Check these tips to reduce you home's energy cost by using landscaping.

Vines provide shading and cooling. Grown on trellises, vines can shade windows or the whole side of the house. Ivy is the most popular choice for year around shading but Jasmine, Morning Glories and other trellis climbing plants can add shade in the summer but let the winter sun shine through.

Deflect summer afternoon heat by planting deciduous trees (trees that lose their leaves in the fall) on the south and west sides of your home. Shade trees will absorb the summer sunlight and through the process of photosynthesis, release water into the air, thereby cooling the air around the house.

Deflect winter winds by planting evergreen trees and shrubs on the north and west side of the house. Evergreens are full all year and can help redirect or block cold winter winds and providing summer morning shade.

Use fences, other buildings, walls or a row of trees as windbreaks to channel or block heavy winds.

Just as wearing white reflects the sun heart from your body, a white or light colored roof will help reflect the sun's heat waves from your home. Dark colored home exterior and roofs absorb 70% of the radian energy from the sun that strikes the home's surface; this can add to higher air conditioning costs and a need for additional attic ventilation.

Tips

Consider the color of your roof and home exterior surfaces carefully, especially concrete or asphalt driveway surfaces.