Toby Talbot/AP
DCL
You may be well aware that landscape shading (lining your house with shade-producing trees) is an efficient, natural way to keep your home cooler in the summer without resorting to cranking up the A/C. But according to the Department of Energy, there's another force at work helping to cool down the house that's well worth knowing about.
It's called evapotranspiration, and no, I didn't make the word up (but you are hereby encouraged to use it at a cocktail party to appear intelligent). Evapotranspiration is the process by which a plant moves and releases water vapor?and, combined with the shade, it can lower surrounding temperatures by an impressive 9 degrees Fahrenheit.
And, as the US Department of Energy explains:
Because cool air settles near the ground, air temperatures directly under trees can be as much as 25°F (14°C) cooler than air temperatures above nearby blacktop.
So what does this mean for your house? It means that if you surround your house with shade producing trees, the nearby area is going to be a whole lot cooler—something that you should consider doing if you see sky-high electricity bills every summer thanks to an overworked A/C.
Point is, you should take advantage of evapotranspiration to effectively create a sort of cool moat around your house. If you live in a region that's sweltering in the summer but cold in the winter, opt for deciduous trees?you're going to want all the solar heat you can get come January. And, if you shade your air conditioning unit itself, you can increase its energy efficiency by 10%.
See? Some unwieldy words are worth knowing; excuse my sesquipedalian tendencies anyways.
For more info on evapotranspiration, check out the DOE's Energy Savers tip page.
