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Good Design, Green Design
20 Mar, 2009 By: Landscape Management Staff LDB Solutions With the right landscape design, shade can lower summer cooling bills. Photo courtesy iStock. |
In this age of increasing environmental awareness, all segments of the business community are being carefully evaluated for their shade of green. More scrutiny is also coming from the dollars and cents angle due to the challenging economic times. It has always been important to emphasize the benefits you offer your customer, but now it is more important than ever. The customer is spending more carefully, considering both environmental and economic impacts. So it’s essential to know the answers before the customer asks his or her questions.
For landscape professionals, the good news is that good design has always offered environmental and economic benefits. From shade trees reducing energy use to efficient irrigation reducing water use, they have always been there saving both resources and money. Now is the time to fine tune our awareness and focus of what we offer, and clearly market these multi-pronged benefits. If we don’t know the positive side effects of what we do, our prospective customers probably won’t either.
- Lower maintenance costs, fewer inputs: A well-designed landscape will work with nature, rather than against it, resulting in fewer inputs and lower maintenance costs. Monocultures of any kind invite pests. On the other hand, a diverse landscape discourages pests, not only by limiting their food source, but also by providing habitat for natural controls.
- With an ever-expanding list of plant choices it makes better economic and environmental sense to use plants adapted to the area and appropriate for the site.
- A well-designed landscape uses water wisely and efficiently with properly designed irrigation systems, grouping plants of similar moisture needs together, and using at least some plants that need little or no added moisture.
- Well-placed trees that limit summer solar gain in buildings, reducing cooling demands. If the designer carefully considers seasonal sun angles, those same trees are also sited to allow passive solar heating in the winter, reducing heating demand.
- Shading air-conditioners is also beneficial. The AC will operate more efficiently, saving fuel and money, and extending the life of the unit.
- Windbreaks are another landscaping technique that lowers energy use.
- Wise plant selection and bed layout also affect energy savings. Choosing lower maintenance turf grasses, making larger planting beds, and allowing more “native” areas all contribute.
Education Is Key
Attitudes are shifting, and when educated about the environmental and economic differences of various landscaping approaches customers are more likely to make the logical choice. Education of the customer may not always directly increase our bottom line, but it has to be one of the services we offer.
Customers will certainly vary on their level of concern for environmental and economic issues. To increase your business’s odds of winning, offer and market services that benefit both. That way everyone wins.
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