Spotlight on Economic Benefits of Turfgrass

(HIT) - Turfgrass provides many economic benefits to homeowners, businesses and to the public in general. The first of this series of articles focuses on the numerous economic benefits of turfgrass, starting with how it increases property values. The benefits include:

• Increases Property Values

Photo Courtesy of Jim Novak, Turfgrass Producers Institute (TPI)

While the housing market is currently in a slump, high quality landscaping is one of the best ways to help sell a property. The Gallup Organization has found that quality landscaping can add seven to 15 percent to a home’s value. And a Money magazine study showed that an investment in landscaping can generate a return of 100 to 200 percent at selling time.

“Landscaping is the one home improvement that actually appreciates over time,” Money has reported. The publication also recommends starting regular fertilizer treatments a year before listing a house, although sellers can “green up” their lawns with just a single fertilizer application.

Yard sizes are smaller in modern homes than in older homes, but there should still be a decently sized front and back yard, reports RealEstateabc.com. It cautions buyers not to buy a house where the entire back yard is taken up by a swimming pool, for example.  RealEstateabc.com reports that consumers will get their best value if the house is moderately landscaped or under-landscaped for the area, adding “You can always improve the landscaping during your ownership by improving the grass and adding bushes and trees.”

Spotlight on Economic Benefits of Turfgrass

(HIT) - Turfgrass provides important economic benefits. This article addresses how it helps reduce home cooling costs.

• Reduces Home Cooling Costs

Photo Courtesy of Jim Novak, Turfgrass Producers Institute (TPI)

The Lawn Institute’s Benefits of Turfgrass video (which can be viewed at www.TheLawnInstitute.org) points out that the front lawns of eight average sized houses have the cooling effects of approximately 70 tons of air conditioning. The average home has an air conditioner with just a three- or four-ton capacity.

Moreover, the cooling effect of irrigated turfgrass reduces the amount of fuel that must be burned to provide the electricity which powers the air conditioners. Helping to reduce electrical costs at a time when energy costs have skyrocketed is important to homeowners.

Finally, consider that on hot days, lawns will often be 30 degrees cooler than asphalt and 14 degrees cooler than bare soil.

Spotlight on Economic Benefits of Turfgrass

(HIT) - In addition to many environmental benefits, turfgrass provides important economic benefits. This article describes how it is a low-cost ground cover.

• Provides a Low-Cost Ground Cover

Photo Courtesy of Jim Novak, Turfgrass Producers Institute (TPI)

“Turfgrasses are relatively inexpensive durable ground covers that protect our valuable, non-renewable soil resource from water and wind erosion,” wrote James Beard and Robert Green in “The Role of Turfgrasses in Environmental Protection and Their Benefits to Humans,” in the Journal of Environmental Quality.*

Beard and Green noted that the erosion control effectiveness of turfgrass is the combined result of a high shoot density and root mass for surface soil stabilization. Its high biomass also provides resistance to lateral surface water flow.

The authors added that turfgrasses provide inexpensive recreational surfaces with a cushioning effect that reduces injuries to football players and other active sports participants--this compared with poorly or non-turfed soils.

* Journal of Environmental Quality, Vol. 23, No.3, May-June 1994, Copyright © 1994, ASA, CSSA, SSSA

Spotlight on Economic Benefits of Turfgrass

(HIT) - In addition to many environmental benefits, turfgrass provides important economic benefits. Consider that turfgrass serves as a fire barrier:

• Serves as a Fire Barrier

Photo Courtesy of Jim Novak, Turfgrass Producers Institute (TPI)

Maintaining a green landscape within 30 feet of one’s home can help improve its chances of surviving a wildfire. It provides a space where firefighters can better defend a home. Moreover, mowing weeds and irrigating lawns can minimize flammable vegetation. Homeowners can also remove overhanging limbs on trees near their home.

Spotlight on Economic Benefits of Turfgrass

(HIT) - Turfgrass provides many important economic benefits, including improving visibility, which helps deter criminal activities.

• Improves Visibility & Deters Crime

Photo Courtesy of Jim Novak, Turfgrass Producers Institute (TPI)

Expanses of green, low-growing turfs in the landscape provide a high visibility zone that discourages intruders and vandals, reported James Beard and Robert Green in The Role of Turfgrasses in Environmental Protection and Their Benefits to Humans. “Such turfs offer a low-cost approach that is a viable security measure, especially around sensitive military and police installations,” they wrote.

Research has explored whether natural elements, such as turfgrass and trees, help curb aggression violence. In 2001, Kuo and Sullivan found that residents living in relatively barren buildings in Chicago reported more aggression and violence than did their counterparts in greener buildings. The researchers also suggested that the geographic distribution of nature matters. “Although large central or regional parks are important components of urban design, perhaps cities should be designed with nature at every doorstep (Kaplan, 1985 as cited in Kuo and Sullivan, 2001a).”

High-canopy trees and grass may work to deter crime in poor inner-city neighborhoods, the researchers found. They examined police crime reports for a relationship between vegetation and crime in an inner-city neighborhood in Chicago. Crime rates for 98 apartment buildings with varying levels of nearby vegetation were compared. The analysis revealed a negative relationship between the density of trees and grass around the buildings and the number of reported crimes per building. The greener a building’s surroundings were, the fewer crimes reported, Kuo and Sullivan found. This pattern held for both property crimes and violent crimes.

Kuo, F. E. and W. C. Sullivan. 2001a. Environment and Crime in the Inner City: Does Vegetation Reduce Crime? Environment and Behaviour 33 (3): 343-367

Kuo, F. E. and W. C. Sullivan. 2001b. Aggression and Violence in the Inner City: Effects of Environment Via Mental Fatigue. Environment and Behaviour 33 (4): 543-571

Kuo, F. E. et al. 1998. Fertile Ground for Community: Inner-City Neighborhood Common Spaces. American Journal of Community Psychology 26 (6): 823-851

Courtesy: Home Improvement News and Information Center

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