Effects of trees on the room temperature and heat load of residential building

In summer, the shady planting is expected for providing shadow on building envelope and reducing reflected solar radiation from the front yard. The heat load simulation program which can take into consideration the shadow effects caused by trees including the effect of the long wave radiation exchange is developed by the authors. The program used to examine the effects of trees on the room thermal environment as well as heating and cooling loads of a model house. In the simulation, two kinds of trees, evergreen broad-leaved tree and deciduous broad-leaved tree were assumed. The simulation results for several cases of tree arrangements around the house showed that the cooling load was reduced by 15% - 20%. While the difference in cooling load was small, the heating load increased by 26% and 8.5% in case of the evergreen broad-leaved tree and the deciduous broad-leaved tree, respectively.