Of What Comfort Value, A Tree?    (View PDF)

Robert D. Brown and Lauren E. Cherkezoff

Abstract: The 'value' of a tree can be stated in economic and sometimes aesthetic terms. This study attempted to determine a quantitative measure of the 'human thermal comfort value' of a row of evergreen trees. It demonstrated that a person standing beside a row of Picea glauca (white spruce) in Southern Ontario experienced a longer period of thermal comfort throughout the test year than a person standing in the open, all other things held constant. The south side of the trees created a microclimate that provided comfortable conditions for an additional 34 complete days, as well as 48 lunchtime periods. The microclimate on the north side of the trees provided the equivalent of 17 additional days of comfortable conditions as well as 25 additional lunchtime periods. In future this approach might provide 'comfort values' for individual species of trees.

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https://doi.org/10.48044/jauf.1989.035