As a former Director of Sustainability of a gloabl corporation, I feel somewhat obligated to point out that the most dramatic savings in energy can come from getting people to work from home and flying less or zero. This is not a hugely popular scenario but from a fuel and kilowatt-hour POV, it is more effective than shade trees and CFLs.The flipside is that it externalizes the cost of the fuel and energy to the home (but, presumably, someone was going to heat and light their house anyway).Northern hemisphere advice: Plant shade trees on the southern exposure and conifers on the northern flank of the house. That way you lose the leaves for winter which is good because that’s when you want the sunshine to heat the roof.
As a former Director of Sustainability of a gloabl corporation, I feel somewhat obligated to point out that the most dramatic savings in energy can come from getting people to work from home and flying less or zero. This is not a hugely popular scenario but from a fuel and kilowatt-hour POV, it is more effective than shade trees and CFLs.The flipside is that it externalizes the cost of the fuel and energy to the home (but, presumably, someone was going to heat and light their house anyway).Northern hemisphere advice: Plant shade trees on the southern exposure and conifers on the northern flank of the house. That way you lose the leaves for winter which is good because that’s when you want the sunshine to heat the roof.