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Re:California Is Built to Burn by pvaldes on Monday October 05, 2020 @09:00PM (#24693799)
Aesthetics is one reason, but having houses much more efficient energetically, or shadow in summer is a must in some areas. Trees are not a caprice always, they made the homes much more confortable and pleasant. They provide food also.

So, why if instead to chop them (and having each house slurping energy like an entire city), we just search a way to reduce the fire hazard in the trees, and include them in the mix?

The absence of safe areas or escape roads seems a fixable problem.

Re:California Is Built to Burn by exclusiv on Tuesday October 06, 2020 @02:31AM (#24695229)
Some trees are way better than others with fire.

In the western part of the country we have Jeffrey Pines [1].

They have branches that start really high up and their bark is super thick so they are considered fire resistant trees - highly fire resistant as adults.

"Jeffrey pine's ability to shed burning bark scales as a means to reduce fire damage has received mention in the literature, and firefighters have reported observing fires extinguished by shedding bark scales" [2]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinus_jeffreyi

[2] https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/pinjef/all.h...

Re:California Is Built to Burn by throw0101a on Monday October 05, 2020 @09:24PM (#24693919)
> or shadow in summer is a must in some areas.

This is what louvers and (eave) overhangs are for. You'd only need some trees for westerly windows once the sun gets closer to the horizon.

As an added benefit you can get some solar gain during the winter months if desired if you get the overhand length right (plenty of online calculators).

Re:California Is Built to Burn by pvaldes on Tuesday October 06, 2020 @07:29AM (#24696616)
Roofs and walls at sun absorb heat and irradiate it later inside the home. Louvers just block light inside but can not save from having a roof too hot.

Houses next trees instead are shadowed some hours a day, they are more fresh inside and heat less, so are much cheaper to keep at habitable temperatures in hot areas.

Trees are also great blocking street noise and removing contamination.

We just can not remove plants from cities without suffering negative collateral effects

Re:California Is Built to Burn by throw0101a on Tuesday October 06, 2020 @01:45PM (#24700445)
> Roofs and walls at sun absorb heat and irradiate it later inside the home.

Radiant barriers are a thing, especially in the Sun Belt. Plenty of products that have foil lining, but it can also be done as a stand-alone product: just add a small (rainscreen) air gap between the foil and the cladding.