Preservation & Sustainability--Resources You Can Use

High Falls, Rochester NY

This weekend, The Landmark Society will be joining over 40 other organizations, businesses, and agencies as a vendor at the Greentopia Festival in High Falls. You might wonder, what is the purpose of this Greentopia and how does it possibly relate to The Landmark Society and historic preservation? First, the event itself is designed to celebrate the green movement, showcase what the region is doing to contribute to the movement, and open up a discussion about what sustainability and "green" really mean.

Genesee Valley Park, Rochester NY

That's where we come in. Although preservation isn't usually the first thing that leaps to most peoples minds' when they hear the words "green" or "sustainable," reusing our existing building stock, preserving our historic landscapes and rural spaces, and reinvesting in our urban centers and rural villages are all examples of recycling on a large scale. And, of course, there are added environmental benefits to preservation--most historic neighborhoods are walkable, older buildings were built to last with high quality materials, and most older buildings incorporate green features such as double-hung windows with operable upper and lower sash that allow you to maximize passive ventilation rather than blast the A/C.

Erie Canal & converted grain tower,
Pittsford NY

So come visit me this weekend at The Landmark Society's table at Greentopia--I and other friendly Landmark Society staff will be there all weekend. I'll be more than happy to share with you why preservation is a necessary part of ensuring the health and sustainability of our communities. Or, if you're reading this post after Greentopia, explore some of the links below to learn more about preservation and sustainability and, more importantly, how you can help save our planet by saving our historic resources.

If you only read one thing, take a look at this article from the National Trust's Preservation Magazine:
A Cautionary Tale--Amid our green-building boom, why neglecting the old in favor of the new just might cost us dearly. By Wayne Curtis.

From us, The Landmark Society:
8 reasons why preservation is an environmentally friendly activity
The Greenest Building - display board from Greentopia
Embodied Energy - display board from Greentopia
Preservation Tips - display board from Greentopia

From CITY Newspaper:
Closing the door on vinyl windows

From the National Trust for Historic Preservation:
Sustainability & Historic Preservation
Weatherization Guide
Window Know-How: A Guide to Going Green
Historic Wood Windows Tip Sheet
Energy Efficient Strategies - Cold Climates
Energy Efficient Strategies - Main Street

From the NY State Historic Preservation Office:
Weatherization Toolkit

From Old House Journal:
Weatherstripping 101 (the print version of this article has more helpful photos and inserts)

The Greenest Building - This website calculates the amount of embodied energy contained in an existing building and the amount of energy required to demolish a building. You can even convert those numbers into gallons of gasoline.


Caitlin Meives is Preservation Planner with The Landmark Society. She'll be spending this weekend celebrating her two favorite things--the natural and the historic built environments.

Windows - an addendum

My post from yesterday inspired Jay Rowe, a blogger for RocEarth.com, to draw my attention to a piece he wrote last month, which was based on information from a talk I gave last September at MCC (got all that?). I remember Jay because he came up after the talk to ask me a bunch of great questions, and followed up with a really nice email saying that before he heard my talk, he wasn't sure if he was doing such a "green" thing by sensitively rehabbing his house in the city, but I persuaded him he was, indeed, doing one of the greenest things he possibly could!

There are lots of pieces about windows out there (and believe it or not, we only post a tiny fraction of them here) but I really think Jay's is one of the best and most thoughtful I've seen - maybe it's because I'm flattered that he mentioned me so nicely and that he remembers my talk all these months later, but really, I think he lays out the issues and what a homeowner can do in a very straightforward and helpful way.

Posted by Katie Eggers Comeau, Director of Preservation Services

Debunking the window-replacement myth

This weekend's Washington Post had an article saying what we keep saying: there are much more cost-effective (not to mention historically appropriate) ways to increase your house's energy efficiency than wood window replacement. Our colleague Erin Tobin, a Rochester native who now covers eastern New York State and New York City as a regional director of technical and grant programs for the Preservation League of New York State, had this comment on the article:

At least this article debunks the myth that replacing windows will save lots of money in energy bills, although it does repeat the falsehood that replacement windows will last for "decades" (how about "decade" if you're lucky). I'm glad to see the quotes from some of the energy auditors, but who is talking to the federal Energy Star people? Not even a mention of storm windows? And nothing about screens and summertime efficiency (aka fresh air).

The point Erin makes about the short lifespan of replacement windows is one I make in my own talks on sustainability, and I like to cite Donovan Rypkema, a historic preservation expert who says: "Regardless of the manufacturers’ 'lifetime warranties', thirty percent of the windows being replaced each year are less than 10 years old." Throwing out vinyl windows after less than 10 years doesn't sound all that "green," does it?

Posted by Katie Eggers Comeau, Director of Preservation Services

Getting Ready for Winter?

A recent article in the Boston Globe about "buttoning up" your house for the winter includes a neat interactive graphic (click on the image of the house to see the graphic) where you can see the payback period for various weatherization techniques. The shortest payback period? Window plastic wrap, that clear plastic you can install on the inside of your windows in the fall and remove in the spring. The longest? Replacement windows - at 33 years (according to this article, anyway - other studies have found much longer payback periods, well longer than the expected life of the windows).

Posted by Katie Eggers Comeau, Advocacy Coordinator

Save Energy, Save Money - Save Your Windows!

Have you heard the myth about windows - that one of the best ways to improve your house's energy efficiency is by replacing old wood windows with high-tech new ones? We hear it all the time, and it drives us nuts, because we know that in most cases it is just that - a myth. We know that new replacement windows take so long to repay the investment that they wear out before homeowners ever see the savings on their energy bills. We know that the materials these windows are made from, like vinyl, are environmentally damaging to produce. We know that old-growth wood is one of the best materials out there, and that to send it to the landfill is not sustainability, it's waste.

But it's hard to get that message out when there's a lot more money to be made persuading homeowners to buy new windows than encouraging them to keep existing ones.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has produced an excellent new fact sheet that succinctly lays out the case for keeping old windows as a way to save energy and money. I can attest to that - when I bought my house six years ago, the windows either didn't open at all, flew up by themselves, or were so difficult to open as to be nearly non-functional. For the price of about three replacement windows, I had all 12 of the double-hung windows in my house repaired by old-house expert Steve Jordan. In doing so I kept what preservation architect John Bero calls "the best windows you can get" - old-growth wood windows with good-quality storms. I also kept my house's original design intent intact, saved a ton of money, and kept 12 high-quality wood windows out of the trash.

In addition to the National Trust's pamphlet, take a look at Rehab Rochester, our "owner's manual" for historic houses, which includes sections on window repair as well as many other common maintenance issues old-house owners (or any homeowner, for that matter) face.

Posted by Katie Eggers Comeau, Advocacy Coordinator