Designing with Trees

Controlling Heating and Cooling

Designing with trees is a great way to control heating and cooling costs at your home.

How?

Through the use of deciduous trees on the south side of the building. Many people think of trees in terms of the shade they provide, but a great advantage of deciduous trees is that they lose their leaves in the fall.

This allows the low winter sun angles to penetrate the house. Carefully positioned trees can reduce a household's energy consumption for heating and cooling by up to 25 percent.

Smart Landscaping

As we are all aware, the temperature and comfort of our properties are directly affected by the climate. 

Between the air temperature, ground temperature, and the amount of sun that comes through our windows, air leaks around doors and windows -- all can make your house cooler or warmer than you'd like.

Smart landscaping can go a long way toward increasing the comfort of your home. Deciduous trees with high, spreading crowns (i.e., leaves and branches) can be planted to the south of your home to provide maximum summertime roof shading!

Benefits of Designing with Trees

This is especially important in this climate (the greater Northwest) as we spend much more energy heating our homes than cooling them.

The diagram above illustrates this point well and was borrowed from EnergyWise House.

For more in-depth discussion on the topic please visit www.renovateyourworld.com