Air conditioning for cooling homes consumes 5% of the electricity generated in the U.S. With energy costs on the upswing, many homeowners are looking for options to reduce their cooling bills. Although your first thought on this matter may be buying a more energy-efficient air conditioner, you might want to consider using trees and other landscaped plants to shade your home to help reduce cooling costs.

The heat from the sun which windows and roofs soak up can boost your air conditioner use. Putting shading ideas into your landscape plans can help lessen solar heat gain, thus reducing your cooling costs.

Shading and evapotranspiration (which is what the process by which a plant moves and releases water vapor is called) from trees can reduce temperatures of surrounding air by up to 9