An easy and enjoyable way to improve the air quality and cooling efficiency inside your Dayton-area home is with landscaping. Placing native plants thoughtfully around your home can lower your energy bills and help clean the air you and your family breathe.
Native Plants
The Great Lakes Basin offers many native plants that provide shade for your Southwest Ohio home, keeping rooms cooler than they would otherwise be. A visit to a nursery will steer you to seedlings appropriate to your particular sun orientation, soil composition and height requirements.
Native plants work well because you don’t need to struggle to keep them thriving by pouring on pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides. They are naturally adapted to the local environment and will attract butterflies, birds and other small animals.
Benefits of Going Native
In addition to helping build a chemical-free lawn, landscaping with native plants simplifies watering and takes the guesswork out of over-wintering concerns. Other benefits:
- Native plants improve air quality immediately outside your home.
- Improved outdoor air quality in the immediate vicinity of your home means indoor air quality improves, too.
- Wildflowers and native grasses provide drought-resistant beauty.
Trees
Any of the 60-plus trees growing in Ohio will lower temperatures in your yard. Photosynthesis absorbs heat from the environment. This is why a spot under a shade tree is pleasantly cool on a hot summer’s day. Some Ohio trees – oaks, red maple and silver maple, and our own Ohio Buckeye – will provide ample shade for many years for the one-time cost of the seedling planted during one spring landscaping session.
Trees pull carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the air, and a yard rich in trees and shrubs cuts down on mowing. Less mowing means more time to relax but also means fewer toxic emissions. Locally, reducing levels of nitrous oxide and sulfur dioxide will reduce acid rain.
Landscaping and Technology
Your home’s air filtration and central air conditioning can work with landscaping that takes advantage of native plants, while providing you and your family an inviting, relaxing yard. For more information about the best way to improve your Dayton-area home’s energy efficiency and indoor air quality, contact Ace Hardware Home Services, Inc.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Dayton, Ohio about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).
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