What to Plant (and Where to Plant It) to Keep Your Home Cooler
If you want to avoid high energy bills from running your air conditioner on full blast all summer long, there’s one often-overlooked feature that can help: Your landscaping can help keep your home cooler in the summer by adding shade to areas that otherwise they would absorb the coolness. a lot of heat. Adding plants and other smart landscaping elements can make a big difference in keeping your interior cool and reducing your utility bills.
How to increase the shade around your house
According to the U.S. Department of Energy , trees can cool the surrounding air by as much as 6 degrees Fahrenheit, and because hot air rises and cooler air tends to settle near the ground, temperatures in the area shaded by a tree can rise. 25 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than unshaded asphalt surface. For your home, this means that shade trees, as well as hedges and even vines, can play an important role in saving energy during warm weather. While shade trees can take ten years to mature and are generally a long-term investment, a hedge can take about three or four years to mature, providing shade more quickly. Using trellis vines to grow shade even faster can produce results in one season.
Where to Plant for Maximum Shade
The sun hits windows the hardest on the east and west sides of your home because you will receive the most direct light through windows when the sun is low on the horizon. To reduce heat absorption through windows, plant shade trees and other plants on the east and west sides of the house. Be sure to consider the area required by the plant’s root system and place them in a safe location from the house to avoid damaging the foundation.
What trees should be planted?
In areas where it is cold in the winter and warm in the summer, deciduous trees and shrubs are an excellent choice because they shed their leaves in the fall and receive less shade during the winter months when sun exposure is desired to retain warmth. In areas where sun exposure is never desirable, such as hotter climates, you can choose coniferous trees and shrubs that will retain their leaves or needles year-round, permanently shading your home from sun exposure. In colder climates, you may want to choose less shade on the sunny sides of your home to allow sunlight to warm your home.
Create a wind tunnel effect
If you live in a warmer area where it would be beneficial to create a cooling breeze, then having shade trees on one side of your home and then a wall, hedge or fence on the other side can create a wind tunnel effect, encouraging the breeze. Air will move faster under tree branches than through them, so trimming the lower branches of shade trees will help create more air circulation, which can promote cooling.
Shade your AC unit
Although your air conditioner is designed to operate in the summer heat, adding shade can help it use a little less energy. Planting a conifer tree that will shade your unit throughout the year is a good choice, but you will need to remove the needles at least once a season to ensure there is no debris in your air conditioner. Don’t plant anything within two to three feet of the AC unit to allow air to move freely around it.
Materials to Avoid in Cool Landscaping
Highly reflective materials that can reflect heat and sunlight onto your home, such as light-colored gravel or concrete, can raise the internal temperature of your home. In general, large unshaded areas, especially on the east and west sides of our home, will make the inside feel warmer, so larger shade plants are best for these areas. You should also avoid dark awnings or patio covers because they absorb sunlight as heat and trap heat near your home.