Recent work (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2018.07.023) by Dr. Shahrestani and Dr. Smith, in collaboration with Forest Research, demonstrated that trees in an idealised urban setting will impact on cooling loads of air conditioned buildings. Whilst the work provides a first look into the potential offsetting of cooling energy demands by trees, it demonstrates a significant effect that is motivating more research on the topic. National and local press coverage of the broader issues being pointed to by our research can be found here:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7511355/Air-conditioning-replaced-TREES.html
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/replacing-aircon-with-trees-could-save-22m-in-energy-m2n9rmrfc
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00097q3/sunday-politics-south-06102019