When attempting to reduce your heating and cooling costs, sometimes it is a good idea to buy the most technically advanced gadgets you can find. On the other hand, sometimes low tech is the way to go. For example, you can strategically use trees with impressive results. 

How Trees Help with Cooling

In order to understand how trees can help to improve the function of your AC unit, and thus reduce your costs, you need to understand how your condenser coils work.

Condenser coils are tasked with cooling the super-heated refrigerant coming from your evaporator coils. To accomplish this, they use a compressor to push the refrigerant through a system of fins and a fan to push air over the fins. The air moving over the coils absorbs heat from the refrigerant until it returns to a liquid state. As you might imagine, the hotter the air moving over your coils is, the longer it takes your condenser coils to cool the refrigerant, and they, therefore, use more energy than they should. 

If you plant tress on the side of your house where your coils are located, they can actually supply the coils with cool air to help with the cooling process. Trees accomplish this not through shade, but through a process known as evapotranspiration. In simple terms, trees release water vapor into the air, and this vapor then absorbs heat from the surrounding air. The air cooled in this way settles into your yard and supplies your condenser coils with a large supply of relatively cool air. It might not seem like much, but trees can reduce your cooling costs by up to 18%.

How Trees Help with Heating

During the winter, the wind licking the outside walls of your house can absorb heat from your walls, which then absorb heat from the inside of your house. While insulation will help to reduce this heat loss, trees can also play a role in isolating your home from the outside wind. If you plant trees in such a way that they block the winter wind, you can reduce your heating costs by up to 30%.

When you start taking steps to reduce your heating and cooling costs, it is important to think outside of your home's insulation envelope. While triple-pane windows, house fans, and low-e windows have their place in making your home more energy efficient, you should not overlook what trees can do.

For more information and tips to reduce your cooling costs and maintain your air conditioning system, contact professional HVAC contractors or visit websites like http://www.alliedme.com.