Saving Money with Trees

Everybody is looking for ways to cut energy costs these days. According to the Department of Energy, strategic planting of as few as three trees can provide the average household with an energy savings of between $100-$250 annually. How can you use trees to save energy?

First, understanding how our homes are heated or cooled by temperatures outside is important. During the winter, homes can gain warmth through the sun and south facing windows due to the sun being low in the sky. East and west windows will also provide small amounts of sunlight into your home in the winter. This free energy can represent 5% to 20% of the energy needed to heat your home. Cutting out wind and air leaks can also help maintain the warmth in your home.

As for the summer, blocking out unwanted heat is the secret to maintaining a comfortable home. This is where planting trees that create shade can help you conserve energy. To know where to strategically plant your trees, identify these conditions:

• Figure out which side of your house faces north.
• Draw your house on a piece of paper with north facing the top of page. Show on the house drawing the approximate location of east and west-facing windows.
• Draw in the approximate location of the major features of your yard: driveway, property lines, power lines, existing trees.
• Find north exposure. Note shadows in your drawing.
• Evaluate where trees will be most beneficial
• Look at planting shade trees due west of west-facing windows.
• Look at planting an evergreen windbreak tree to the north and west.
• Select and mark your best planting site so that it doesn’t conflict with existing trees, wires, etc.

Planting trees strategically is important. For the most shade, plant near west and east windows while avoiding planting trees in front of south windows. Select trees that can be planted within twenty feet of the window and that will grow at least ten feet taller than the window. When space permits, use as many trees as needed to create a continuous planting along all major west and east facing windows. Deciduous trees will provide maximum summer shade while minimizing winter shade.

Besides creating shade, your trees also can serve as a windbreak. Trees are ideal wind filters; they bend gently with its force slowing down turbulence. For maximum wind protection, you need enough trees along with trees that are dense and tall enough. The ideal windbreak tree is a dense evergreen whose branches extend from ground level to a height at least twice as tall as the building being sheltered. Windbreak trees need to be clustered together to reduce wind going between the trees. The most efficient way to do this is to plant trees in rows perpendicular to the primary winter wind direction—usually running along the west and north sides of the property. Since the wind will increase some at the edges of the windbreak, not only should the trees be taller, but the windbreak should be much longer than the buildings being sheltered. To keep dense branches to the ground, evergreens need full sun that means they must not be overcrowded.

Trees do a lot more than help you lower your energy costs and provide birds with a place to perch. Trees increase the value of your home, reduce air pollutants, and make life comfortable all while saving people on their energy bills.

Andrew Johnson is the owner of Central Texas Tree Care, a leading tree service provider in Central Texas (Travis County and surrounding areas) offering services such as pruning and removals, cabling and bracing as well as arborist reports, diagnostics, pest management, fertilization and Austin tree service trusts. For more information please visit http://www.centraltexastreecare.com.

Trees and the Environment

We have all heard about how trees help the environment, but do we know how exactly? Metaphorically, trees are like the lungs of the planet. They breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. What does this mean?

Carbon Dioxide or CO2 is one of the major contributing elements to the greenhouse effect. Trees trap CO2 from the atmosphere. Studies have shown that urban forests of the U.S store 800 million tons of. Mature trees can absorb roughly 48 pounds of CO2 a year. The tree in turn releases enough oxygen to sustain two human beings.

In urban areas, trees can help reduce urban runoff and erosion by storing water and breaking the force of rain as it falls. The United States Department of Agriculture says that 100 mature trees can reduce runoff caused by rainfall by up to 100,000 gallons.

Trees have other benefits in urban areas as well. For one, they absorb sound and reduce thus noise pollution. If you live by a major freeway, you can appreciate sounds absorbed. Studies have shown that in some cases, a well planted group of trees can reduce noise pollution by up to 10 decibels.

For urban areas that are quite hot, such as Phoenix or Las Vegas, the addition of trees help shade asphalt and reduce what is called the “heat island” effect. Reducing heat is so important in regards to helping people save energy that the Environmental Protection Agency encourages cities to grow trees. To determine exactly how much energy is saved by a trees cooling effect, studies have shown that one tree is equivalent to 10 room-size air conditioners running 20 hours a day.

Trees aren’t only beneficial for warm climates and summer heat. In the winter, they can act as windbreaks for your home and help you save on heating costs. The Journal of Horticulture claims that saving on heating costs can reach as much as 25 percent!

What are some other quick facts regarding trees and how they save energy and help the environment? Here are a few:

• As few as three trees properly positioned can save the average household between $100 and $250 annually in energy costs.
• Fifty million shade trees planted in strategic, energy-saving locations could eliminate the need for seven 100-megawatt power plants.
• Shade from two large trees on the west side of a house and one on the east side can save up to 30% of a typical residence’s annual air conditioning costs.
• Annual benefits provided by parking lot trees in Sacramento, California,(8.1% tree shade) were valued at approximately $700,000 for improved air quality. By increasing shade to 50% in all parking lots in Sacramento, the annual benefits will increase to $4 million.
• Rows of trees reduce wind speed by up to about 85%, with maximum reductions increasing in proportion to visual density. Because even a single row of dense conifers can cause large reductions in wind speed, effective windbreaks can be planted on relatively small house lots. Compared with an open area, a good windbreak that does not shade the house will save about 15% of the heat energy used in a typical home.
• Modest increases of 10% canopy cover in the New York City Area were shown to reduce peak ozone levels by up to 4 parts per billion or by nearly 3% of the maximum and 37% of the amount by which the area exceeded its air quality standard. Similar results were found in Los Angeles and along the East Coast from Baltimore to Boston.8
• Leafy tree canopies catch precipitation before it reaches the ground, allowing some of it to gently drip and the rest to evaporate. This lessens the force of storms and reduces runoff and erosion. Research indicates that 100 mature tree crowns intercept about 100,000 gallons of rainfall per year, reducing runoff and providing cleaner water.
• Trees reduce noise pollution by absorbing sounds. A belt of trees 98 feet wide and 49 feet tall can reduce highway noise by 6 to 10 decibels.
• Trees in Davis, California, parking lots reduced asphalt temperatures by as much as 36 degrees Fahrenheit, and car interior temperatures by over 47 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Philadelphia's 2.1 million trees currently store approximately 481,000 metric tons of carbon with an estimated value of $9.8 million.
• A typical community forest of 10,000 trees will retain approximately 10 million gallons of rainwater per year.

Andrew Johnson is the owner of Central Texas Tree Care, a leading tree service provider in Central Texas (Travis County and surrounding areas) offering services such as pruning and removals, cabling and bracing as well as arborist reports, diagnostics, pest management, fertilization and Austin tree service trusts. For more information please visit http://www.centraltexastreecare.com.

Trees - Their Value and Function

Trees are important for our environment and have numerous functions. There are also many considerations to take when planting trees in your yard or even in creating a park. Once a tree is planted, there is then upkeep and care.

To start, let’s look at the function of trees. Value they provide include:

1. Aesthetics. Trees are creatures of beauty and grandeur. They offer beauty in each season with their form, bark, foliage, flowers, fruit, and sometimes fragrance. In addition to their seasonal variations, they change in size and character over time. Some trees will become quite large and are magnificent just for their size, irrespective of their species.
2. Architectural Elements. Trees serve as the structure of a landscape and form the walls and ceilings that create outdoor spaces. They can be used to frame a view, serve as a focal point, form boundaries, act as a privacy screen, or create outdoor rooms. A particularly elegant example of an architectural space created by trees is that formed by a double row (allée) of vase-shaped trees (e.g., American elm, American yellowwood). The meeting of the arching branches between the rows creates a space like that beneath a cathedral ceiling.
3. Noise Abatement and Pollution Reduction. Trees reduce noise levels, trap particulates, and absorb carbon dioxide and gaseous pollutants. One hundred trees can remove five tons of carbon dioxide and 1,000 pounds of particulates and gaseous pollutants in a year.
4. Shade and Wind Break. The shade of trees, placed on the south side of a house, can significantly cool a house in the summer with estimates of 30 percent lower air-conditioning bills compared to an unshaded house. In the summer, the temperature under a tree can be 9ºF lower than an adjacent area and up to 25º lower than air above nearby blacktop. We intuitively know the value of tree shade when we search for the shade of a tree in the desert like expanse of an asphalt parking lot. Evergreen trees (broad leaved or conifers) placed on the northwest side of a house to act as a windbreak can save up to 20 percent on winter heating costs.
5. Erosion Prevention and Runoff Reduction. Tree canopies reduce the impact of raindrops on the soil and the network of tree roots helps keep soil in place.
6. Property Value. Research has shown that an attractive landscape can increase the value of a home by 5 percent to 11 percent (Behe et al., 2005).
7. Wildlife Habitat. Trees serve as a shelter, nesting site, food, perch, and residence for many birds, mammals, and insects.
8. Social and Emotional Value. Trees serve as a link to nature, give a sense of well-being, and are often the site of social events such as picnics. Of course most children are tantalized by the sight of a good climbing tree and a rope swing as well.

If you are looking to plant trees in your yard, do your homework first before beginning the labor of digging. Here are a few considerations before deciding where to put your trees:

1. Height. Will the tree bump into anything when it is fully grown?
2. Canopy spread. How wide will the tree grow?
3. Is the tree deciduous or coniferous? (Will it lose its leaves in the winter?)
4. Form or shape. A columnar tree will grow in less space. Round and V-Shaped species provide the most shade.
5. Growth rate. How long will it take for your tree to reach its full height? Slow growing species typically live longer than fast growing species.
6. Soil, sun, and moisture requirements.
7. Fruit. No one wants messy droppings on busy sidewalks.
8. Hardiness zone indicates the temperature extremes in which a tree can be expected to grow. Check with your community's tree board or forestry department or a local county cooperative extension agent for a list of trees suitable for planting in your specific hardiness zone.

Andrew Johnson is the owner of Central Texas Tree Care, a leading tree service provider in Central Texas (Travis County and surrounding areas) offering services such as pruning and removals, cabling and bracing as well as arborist reports, diagnostics, pest management, fertilization and Austin tree service trusts. For more information please visit http://www.centraltexastreecare.com.