Residential building energy conservation and avoided power plant emissions by urban and community trees in the United States

Nowak, David J.; Appleton, Nathaniel; Ellis, Alexis; Greenfield, Eric J.

doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2016.12.004

Cited by 50 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 30 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Nowak et al (41) estimate that trees and forests in urban areas in the continental US annually reduce electricity use by 38.8 M MWh and heating use by 246 M MMBtus, translating to $7.8 B in energy savings annually. We also leave out most cultural services that trees provide in the US, including many of their ornamental, spiritual, and aesthetic values (2,4,42,43).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The hidden value of trees: quantifying the ecosystem services of tree lineages and their major threats across the contiguous US

Cavender‐Bares¹,

Nelson²,

Meireles³

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Trees provide critical contributions to human well-being. They sequester and store greenhouse gasses, filter air pollutants, and provide wood, food, and other products, among other benefits. However, global change threatens these benefits. To quantify the monetary value of US trees and the threats they face, we combine macroevolutionary and economic valuation approaches using spatially explicit information about species and lineages. We show that the value of ecosystem services generated by trees in forests, orchards, and plantations in the US - $114 billion annually (low: $85 B; high: $137 B; 2010 USD) across five key services for which we had adequate data. The high value of trees is a consequence of both their abundance and diversity. The carbon storage and air pollution removal values of US trees far exceed their commercial value from wood product and food crops. Yet the most valuable US tree species and lineages are also among those most threatened by known pests and pathogens, climate change and increasing fire risk. While US tree crops are often provided by the same lineages in different regions, the high ecosystem service value of carbon and air pollution removal depends on different lineages in different regions. The composition of tree species that provide critical ecosystem services are likely to shift with global change, highlighting the importance of maintaining forest abundance and diversity.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The hidden value of trees: quantifying the ecosystem services of tree lineages and their major threats across the contiguous US

Cavender‐Bares¹,

Nelson²,

Meireles³

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In 1999, McPherson andSimpson (1999) wrote a technical report that was the basis of the iTree software, which has been used by thousands of communities around the U.S. to estimate ACE avoided. Their methodology was recently applied to estimate the effects of trees on ACE for the entire conterminous US (Nowak et al 2017). Despite the number of publications on the topic, the length of time we have been researching the matter, and the many large cities with massive tree planting initiatives, our uncertainty about the effects of trees on building energy use is actually quite high (Pataki et al 2006, McPherson andSimpson 1999).…”

Section: Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite providing estimates for the effects of trees on building energy use and ACE for anywhere in the country (Akbari and Konopacki 2005) and the entire country (Nowak et al 2017), we still have no empirical validation of the effect of urban trees in a cool climate. More than 3 out of every 4 people in the U.S. live in places with more heating degree days than cooling degree days, and Americans use much more energy for heating than for cooling (U.S. Department of Energy 2009).…”

Section: Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trees in cool climate cities may increase atmospheric carbon by altering building energy use

Erker

Townsend

2019

Environ. Res. Commun.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Urban trees are a critical part of the 'green infrastructure' intended to make our growing cities more sustainable in an era of climate change. The potential for urban trees to modify microclimates and thereby reduce building energy use and the associated carbon emissions is a commonly cited ecosystem service used to justify million tree planting campaigns across the US. However, what we know of this ecosystem service comes primarily from unvalidated simulation studies. Using the first dataset of actual heating and cooling energy use combined with tree cover data, we show that contrary to the predictions of the most commonly used simulations, trees in a cool climate city increase carbon emissions from residential building energy use. This is driven primarily by near east (<20 m from building) tree cover. Further analysis of urban areas in the US shows that this is likely the case in cool climates throughout the country, encompassing approximately 39% of the US population and 62% of its area (56%, excluding Alaska). This work adds geographic nuance to our understanding of how urban shade trees affect the carbon budget, and it could have major implications for tree planting programs in cool climates.

show abstract

“…Tireless efforts and decades of continuous research work has advanced our understanding of urban forests and green spaces [3]. Urban forests and their biotic components play vital roles in reducing energy budgets of building and urban heat islands [4,5], augmenting water and air quality [6], decreasing the impacts of flooding [7], improving human health and reducing sound pollution [8]. Among lifeforms, trees are important constituent of urban ecosystems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aboveground Biomass Stockpile and Carbon Sequestration Potential of <i>Albizia saman</i> in Chennai Metropolitan City, India

Udayakumar¹,

Selvam²,

Sekar³

2018

PLANT

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Albizia saman (Jacquin) F. Mueller belongs to the family Fabaceae (sub family: Mimosoideae) is a native to Northern South America. Commonly known as rain tree and locally known as Thoongu-moonchi maram (Tamil). The species' introduced during Colonial period as an ornamental tree in Chennai metropolitan city (CMC). Though A. saman represent as a dominant tree species' in CMC, there are voids in baseline data such as density, biomass stockpile, and annual C sequestration potential hence this study was conducted to fill these voids. A total of 2522 individuals which cover 1672.14 m 2 basal area (mean = 9.61 ± 4.95 m 2 ha -1 ; range = 0-24.96 m 2 ha -1 ) was recorded from study plots. During study period A. saman stocked a sum of 6403.51 Mg aboveground biomass (AGB) (mean = 36.8 ± 18.9 Mg ha -1 ; range = 0-95.4 Mg ha -1 ) and 3201.76 Mg C (mean = 18.9 ± 9.45 Mg ha -1 ; range = 0-47.7 Mg ha -1 ). C storage of individual tree ranged from 3.74 to 4598.18 kg with a mean value of 1269.53 ± 1082.25 kg. On an average, each tree achieved 1.04 ± 0.27 cm horizontal growth yr -1 . In a year A. saman population sequestered 111.23 Mg biomass in aboveground (in 174 ha). The mean C sequestration of study area was 319.62 ± 184.0 kg ha -1 year -1 . In total, the study area sequestered 55.62 Mg C year -1 . Overall, in a year A. saman absorbed 204.13 Mg CO 2 for C sequestration in study area. CO 2 absorption ranged from 385.46 to 3009.29 kg ha -1 yr -1 . The monetary value of C storage and annual sequestration of A. saman is also investigated. Though introduced from tropical Northern South America A. saman provides a considerable ecosystem services to CMC through C storage and sequestration. This study estimated monetary values of just two ecosystem services of A. saman, study that concentrates on all ecosystem services is essential to assess total actual ecosystem service values.

show abstract

Residential building energy conservation and avoided power plant emissions by urban and community trees in the United States

Abstract: Eric, "Residential building energy conservation and avoided power plant emissions by urban and community trees in the United States" (2017

Cited by 50 publications

References 30 publications

The hidden value of trees: quantifying the ecosystem services of tree lineages and their major threats across the contiguous US

The hidden value of trees: quantifying the ecosystem services of tree lineages and their major threats across the contiguous US

Trees in cool climate cities may increase atmospheric carbon by altering building energy use

Aboveground Biomass Stockpile and Carbon Sequestration Potential of <i>Albizia saman</i> in Chennai Metropolitan City, India

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Residential building energy conservation and avoided power plant emissions by urban and community trees in the United States

Abstract: Eric, "Residential building energy conservation and avoided power plant emissions by urban and community trees in the United States" (2017

Cited by 50 publications

References 30 publications

The hidden value of trees: quantifying the ecosystem services of tree lineages and their major threats across the contiguous US

The hidden value of trees: quantifying the ecosystem services of tree lineages and their major threats across the contiguous US

Trees in cool climate cities may increase atmospheric carbon by altering building energy use

Aboveground Biomass Stockpile and Carbon Sequestration Potential of &lt;i&gt;Albizia saman&lt;/i&gt; in Chennai Metropolitan City, India

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Aboveground Biomass Stockpile and Carbon Sequestration Potential of <i>Albizia saman</i> in Chennai Metropolitan City, India