This shady feature makes some neighborhoods 15 degrees cooler

Some New York City neighborhoods are much cooler than others, and it has nothing to do with air conditioning, a new study found.The Nature Conservancy nonprofit studied every neighborhood across the five boroughs for five years and found that those with limited tree coverage can experience temperatures 10 to 15 degrees higher than those with greater coverage.Trees naturally lower air temperatures, often significantly.In fact, according to Forests News, a single large tree can provide a cooling effect equivalent to 10 room-sized air conditioners operating for 20 hours per day.The New York City neighborhoods with the greatest percentage of tree coverage, not including major parks or nature areas, ranked as follows:By borough, Staten Island has the most tree coverage at 33%, followed by the Bronx at 27%, Manhattan at 23%, Queens at 20%, and Brooklyn at 19%.Mike Plactere, who flips homes in New York City and on Long Island, says he definitely sees a “tree premium.”“I see the tree premium from the buying side: It shows up in what I pay for a house and what it resells for,” he tells Realtor.com.“If you want hard evidence that trees carry real value, look at what happens when one comes down without a permit,” he says.

“New York City and many Long Island villages enforce civil penalties for unpermitted tree removal.Nobody writes fines for removing something worthless.”He notes that the trees that add the most value to a property are “unique specimen trees” such as the Japanese maple and older-growth trees such as oaks, as they tend to be larger, creating more privacy.“A property that already has a mature screen [of trees] or an old oak canopy has something the neighbor can’t buy at any price this decade,” he adds.

“The size matters less than the time.A homeowner can renovate a kitchen in two months.“Nobody can rush an 80-year-old oak.”City dwellers with an abundance of trees nearby have not only something pleasant to look at, but...