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An obvious benefit of having a beautiful yard is the beauty it offers to welcome you home each day. But did you know that a well-designed landscape is unrivaled among your home’s amenities for the other benefits it offers? You may be surprised to find out that your landscaping is beneficial in some surprising ways.

Among landscaping’s hidden benefits are:

  • Lower heating and cooling costs. With home heating and cooling costs totaling almost 50 percent of the average home’s energy dollars, learning how to use your landscaping most effectively can significantly reduce your heating and cooling costs. Plant deciduous trees — those that lose their leaves in fall — on the south side of your home. In summer, they can block up to 90 percent of the sun’s heat from your home. In winter, they allow the sun’s warmth to filter through the bare branches and reach your home.
  • Noise buffers. Landscaping is beneficial as an evergreen screen that blocks sound waves between your home and a source of noise so that you have more peaceful enjoyment of your yard. Be sure to plant evergreen trees and shrubs, because deciduous plants allow sound waves to pass through unobstructed when the plants lose their leaves in fall.
  • Efficient water use. Native plants are already adapted to a region’s climate and soil, and they typically require less water than non-native species. Plants identified as drought-tolerant require even less water. If you apply a layer of mulch around plants, it helps to slow evaporation, which means even more water savings.

Use your home’s landscaping as a valuable component of a comprehensive energy-efficient strategy. When used in tandem with a home energy assessment to reveal areas of energy loss, your monthly utility bills can show significant savings.

In New Jersey, the professional team at Pipe Works Services stands ready to answer all your questions about how your landscape design plus a home energy audit can work together to lower your utility bills. Please call us with any questions you have.

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