Trees Do Their Part - Let's Do Ours

Gardening is America's favorite hobby. Although it takes time, energy and money to buy and plant a tree, prune and water it, and dispose of leaves, research shows that the annual benefits outweigh the costs by about $65 each year for every single tree.

In addition to being beautiful, shade trees are TREEmendous assets for urban communities. When the sun beats down on barren concrete, asphalt and glass, cities heat up nine degrees warmer that their rural counterparts, creating a phenomenon known as the "heat island effect." And since these surfaces retain heat, they stay hotter longer. After sunset, these hot surfaces continue to radiate stored heat back into the atmosphere well into the evening, making it feel warmer than outside city limits. Parking lots are real heat island culprits causing increased hydrocarbon vaporization and air pollution.

Shade trees can make individual neighborhoods and whole cities cooler by preventing the "heat island effect" in two ways. In the heat of the summer, temperatures are 10 degrees cooler under the shade of a mature tree. And as wind moves air through a shade canopy, it is cooled much like the way water is cooled when passing through a swamp cooler. A stand of trees can create a welcoming "oasis effect".

Check your treescaping to maximize benefits of the "oasis effect." Three strategically planted trees can provide shade that will lower cooling costs by 10 to 50 percent. Planting deciduous trees on the southeast, south and west sides of your home or office will protect it from the summer sun, whereas in winter the trees will drop their leaves and allow sun rays to warm the building. Besides the obvious savings in energy costs, this energy conservation translates directly to less carbon dioxide produced at the generating plant that provides the energy to cool your home.

A well-treed neighborhood is 5-10 degrees cooler than a new development.