Go Green With Trees
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010If you are considering a more energy efficient home, think about going outdoors and taking a look at your landscape.
Although the changes can be slow, trees can have a potentially huge impact on your energy needs at home. Adding trees can also improve the environment while lowering your carbon footprint as well.
Whether you live in a warm or cool area, the type of trees you have around your home and where they are located can make a difference in the environment inside.
Trees are what you need if you think air conditioning is one of life’s necessities. A deciduous tree that shades your roof or casts shade over walls that would have been baking in the sun - particularly in the afternoon - is a good thing, although many people are quite cautious of having trees too close to the house.
Easier to break and more likely to be damaged in the winds of a summer storm or the ice of winter, poplars, also known as softwoods, which ranges from tulip to hybrid offer quick growth and shade. Instead look for a more reliable variety such as a maple, some of which are fairly fast growing. Most oaks are slow to grow, although very durable once grown.
If these trees are strategically located on the south, east and especially the west of your home, they will be doing the most good since the temperature may begin climbing in the spring well before the sun is rising in the northern part of the eastern skyline. Trees on the west side will keep the hot afternoon sun off your house and do the most to help keep temperatures down.
Not to be placed on the south side of the house, evergreens, such as pines or hemlocks can be included in the landscape for summer cooling. While other trees are still growing their foliage, evergreens can help keep down the heat in the west in the meantime. They would block the warm rays during the winter on the south side however, when solar heating is supposed to be a good thing.
Evergreens can be beneficial year round when planted on the north side of your home. Since they are all softwoods and susceptible to breaking, you will not want them too close to your house however. At the same time, they can form a windbreak that helps keep the iciest northern breezes at bay, or at least lessens their impact during winter. By mid summer, when the sun is at its most northern point, they may offer a little shade, even if at a safer distance from the house.
Trees on the east side of your home are less important as the sun isn’t typically as hot in the morning. Still, a little shade can help keep temperatures down, so consider mainly deciduous trees there as well.
We have authentic log cabin furniture like a log bed.