Learn The Benefits
According to the Arbor Day Foundation, the oldest and largest tree planting organization in the world, a good, concrete example of how we can benefit from trees is windbreaking.
Windbreaking refers to using trees, or rows of them, to shelter a house or any area from excessive cooling or heating. Under this principle, trees become natural insulators which, when planted properly, can help a home or an establishment reduce cooling and heating expenses.
“To heat a house behind a windbreak takes about one half to one third the amount [of] fuel when compared to a house out in the howling wind. The same goes for homes with shade trees versus their sun-baked neighbors,” Paul W. Knopp of the Nebraska-based organization.
According to a study by the University of Minnesota, a row of evergreen tree windbreakers are even better than solid fences, because trees can permit 50 percent to 60 percent of wind to penetrate while providing more downside protection on the shielded property.
Save Energy
When planted in such a way that they provide shade to air conditioners and car park areas, trees can prevent heat buildup, contributing to making machines run smoothly.
Mature deciduous trees can block 60 to 90 percent of sunlight and heat in summer, while their leafless branches and twigs can block around 30 to 50 percent in winter.
When trees help us reduce our energy needs, they help slash carbon dioxide emissions. But it’s no secret that trees have direct carbon-cutting use.
Mr. Knopp said an average tree in a residential neighborhood can clean about 330 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air every year and provide oxygen for a family of four.
In an urban setting, people think that trees can pose some not-so-small problems. Trees planted on urban street corners, along highways, or in other rights-of-way are said to impede traffic and cause accidents. Planting trees indiscriminately under concrete pavements might also cause property destruction where their persistent roots or branches grow.
But a study by Dr. Karen K. Dixon of Oregon State University and Dr. Kathleen L. Wolf of the University of Washington state that trees do not really pose serious risk.
The average driver has a tree crash about only once every decade, usually causing minor property damage if figures are translated into multiyear trends, said the study.
This corresponds to a rate for fatal crashes at about one for every 4,000 years.
“Granted, trees planted under power lines or right next to sidewalks will, in the long run, require more carbon emissions to remove them than they actually save, but this is the rare exception,” Mr. Knopp said.
Besides, such minor hazards can be overshadowed by the income – yes, income – which can be generated from trees.
Enjoy The FruitsIn the same urban setting, trees can increase property values between 5 percent to 18 percent. In San Francisco, street trees increase property values by as much as $6.7 million every year, according to a report by the University of California, Davis.
Arbor Day provides tree owners an online calculator that can compute a tree’s yearly monetary benefit to the owner, with a breakdown illustrating dollars earned from property value increase and electricity savings.
A 22-inch pine tree in front of a single residential home, according to the calculator, can give the owner $124 every year, make him conserve 108 kilowatt-per-hours of electricity for cooling, and reduce consumption of oil or natural gas by 39 therms.
“For me to explain the benefits of trees would take the rest of the year,” said Mr. Knopp.