The Arbor Day Foundation's Energy-Saving Trees and Community Canopy Programs Launch Spring Project Season

LINCOLN, Neb., April 20, 2018 – The Arbor Day Foundation announced today the beginning of its spring tree planting initiatives through its Energy-Saving Trees program and Community Canopy, an Arbor Day Foundation Program. Through these two community-based homeowner education programs more than 30,000 trees will be distributed by 50 partners across the United States bringing the total number of trees planted on homeowner's properties free of charge over the last three years to more than 250,000. 

Energy-Saving Trees is a tree giveaway combined with a research-based, easy-to-use online mapping tool that takes the guesswork out of tree planting. Local utility companies partner with the Arbor Day Foundation to provide trees to their local customers, helping to promote energy savings. By entering simple information about your home and yard, the tool calculates where to specifically and strategically plant trees for the greatest energy- and money-saving benefits.

Planting the right tree in the right place is key to maximizing the energy-saving benefits that trees provide. When planted properly, a single tree can save a homeowner up to 20% on energy costs. Additionally, trees contribute to much more than energy savings for the homeowner. They also provide tangible benefits for the entire community: improved air quality, reduced storm water runoff, beautification of your neighborhood, reduced urban heat island effect, and a smaller carbon footprint, just to name a few. 

"At Duke Energy we love trees and know our customers do too, said Nick Esposito, Duke Energy Florida Sr Vegetation Management Specialist. "Our partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation has provided a great way to give back to our customers while informing them of the benefits of trees, where to plant them to maximize those benefits, and how to prevent conflicts with overhead power lines." 

Similar to the Energy Saving-Trees program, the Community Canopy program is designed to offer companies, cities, states, and nonprofit organizations a turnkey approach to providing trees to customers, employees or other members of their community. Community Canopy provides both the mechanism and the strategy for offering a sustainable private property tree planting program to community residents that has the ability to impact energy conservation, water management, air quality, and carbon sequestration. 

Like the Energy-Savings Tree program, the Community Canopy program provides homeowners with trees and education, ensuring they plant the right tree in the right place. Trees are reserved through an online mapping tool that takes the guesswork out of where to plant the tree on a specific property that will help maximize the air, water, energy, and carbon benefits of their tree. 

"We were looking for a creative and user-friendly way to engage our residents about urban forestry, said Ian Jurgensen, Sustainability Project Manager, Office of Sustainability and Energy, City of Orlando. "The Community Canopy program is the perfect fit for combining functionality, education and technology to help get trees planted in the City of Orlando." 

This year's Energy-Saving Trees and Community Canopy partners include: ACE, Avista Utility, BG&E, Black Hills Energy, City of Plano, City of Orlando, Town of Pound Ridge, City of Redding, City of Stanford, City of Sarasota, City of Spokane, Colorado Springs Utilities, ComEd, Delmarva, DIRTT, Duke Energy-FL, Edmond Electric, Empire District, First National Bank, Florida Keys Electric Coop, Florida Power & Light, Howard Hughes Corporation, Idaho Power, Lakeland Electric, Montana-Dakota Utilities, Nebraska City Utilities, New Smyrna Beach Utility Commission, NIPSCO, Ocala Electric Utility, OG&E, Oklahoma Electric Cooperative, PG&E, PECO, Pepco, PSEG, Puget Sound Energy, SDG&E, SMUD, Florida Forest Service, State of Rhode Island DEM, State of Vermont Urban & Community Forestry, Taking Root, Tipmont REMC, TreensGreenville, Unitil, Upper Makefield Township, Vermont Electric Cooperative and Wiregrass Electric Cooperative. Trees from these spring partnerships are projected to save $2.1 million in energy and provide $7.8 million in total environmental benefits. 

The online tool for both programs was made possible through a grant from the UPS Foundation. It was developed by the Davey Tree Expert Company and the Arbor Day Foundation, and powered by i-Tree research. To learn more about getting your community involved in Energy-Saving Trees or Community Canopy please visit arborday.org.