We're not just saving buildings - we're saving the world!

"Existing buildings are going to be what saves the world." -Jean Carroon, June 4, 2009

On Thursday, June 4, over 85 preservationists, architects, engineers, planners, facilities managers, and others gathered in the Eisenhart Auditorium at the Rochester Museum & Science Center to learn how and why to improve the energy performance of historic buildings. Jean Carroon, FAIA, LEED, Principal for Preservation at Goody Clancy in Boston, shared her years of experience exploring ways to pair sustainability and preservation.

The day-long workshop was a good news-bad news situation.

The bad news? Climate change is a huge problem, with new evidence coming out to show the impacts of human activity on our planet are even worse that scientists thought just a few years ago. As often as I've heard about or read the statistics on this, it gives me chills every time I see the stark images of melting glaciers that point to accelerating, dramatic change. The construction and operation of buildings, as Jean said (and as I say in my own presentations on this topic), is a huge source of carbon dioxide emissions.

The good news? Because buildings are such a problem now, they also represent a tremendous opportunity to make changes - and any historic building's energy performance can be improved.

But, back to a little bad news. Many of the things that are being promoted as "the solution" - new "green" products, McMansions with lower energy bills, or - ack! - replacement windows - are ineffective or, worse, have the opposite effect of what they're supposed to. Many so-called "green" products may improve a building's energy performance, or have recycled components, or whatever, but given the full life cycle of those products - the way they were made, how they were transported, their long-term effect on the health of the building and its occupants (keep in mind, asbestos was once a miracle product touted for its energy-saving potential), it is likely that few of these new products are all they're cracked up to be, and some may even have very negative unintended consequences for human and/or building health in the long run. Not to mention the many problems with building new "green" buildings to try to stave off climate change; of course new buildings should be green, but in many cases, reuse of an existing building is a much more sustainable solution.

Now back to the bright side. The most important things that we can do to reduce our personal carbon footprints are good for historic buildings! Insulating attics and basements, installing programmable thermostats (and setting the temperature on the low side in winter, high in summer), washing clothes in cold water and drying them on a clothesline, turning off the lights, maintaining boilers and steam traps, repairing and caulking around leaky windows so they perform as they were designed to - these are small steps, but they matter, and they won't harm (and may improve) your building physically or aesthetically. These steps are inexpensive and have a short payback period, so not only are they effective in reducing energy consumption, they save money for the building owner.

On a larger scale, of course, we need to stop demolishing buildings that could be recycled, avoid building unnecessary new buildings, and find new uses for old buildings. These are the actions that can truly have a global impact. Once again, these things are obviously good for historic buildings, and good for the economy - studies have shown that building reuse creates more jobs than new construction, and is a more effective economic stimulus.

Here's the best news of all. Even with her thorough understanding of the implications of climate change, and the role of existing buildings in contributing to it, Jean believes that "the preservation movement is, in many ways, the hope for the future," and that "existing buildings are going to be what saves the world."

Jean believes that the historic preservation movement embodies "a culture of repair, a culture of renewal." That's what we're all about: keeping what we have, fixing it rather than throwing it out, sticking to tried and true methods designed to ensure that the things we have - particularly the well-designed, well-made things we love - last a really, really long time. And making sure that when something new is built, it contributes in a positive way to the long-term environmental, economic, and cultural health and sustainability of our communities. Given our nation's throwaway culture in recent decades, we've sometimes seemed to be shouting into the wind. But the winds are changing, and we should be at the forefront.

The session was presented by the National Preservation Institute, and cosponsored by the Landmark Society of Western New York, the Preservation League of New York State, and AIA New York State.

Posted by Katie Eggers Comeau, Director of Preservation Services

Green Strategies workshop: There's still time to register!

There's still time to register for next week's "Green Strategies for Historic Buildings" seminar, which will be held June 4 in the Eisenhart Auditorium of the Rochester Museum & Science Center. This daylong professional workshop is aimed at architects, developers, property owners/managers, planners, engineers, and anyone else who works with historic buildings and wants to improve their energy performance.

The presenter will be Jean Carroon, Principal for Preservation at Goody Clancy, a Boston design firm. She has received national recognition for her achievements in the field of sustainable design for historic buildings. Our colleagues at the Preservation League of NYS, who heard Jean give a similar presentation last year, report that she is an excellent speaker and exceptionally knowledgeable about the topic. I'm very much looking forward to learning from her!

Learn more and register now for this exciting educational opportunity!

The workshop is presented by the National Preservation Institute; cosponsors are The Landmark Society, the Preservation League of New York State and AIA New York State.

Posted by Katie Eggers Comeau, Director of Preservation Services

And now for something completely different? Not really!

Last week’s “Your Old House” workshop brought a devoted band of old-house enthusiasts to our Stone-Tolan House. Home-repair columnist and Landmark Society board president Jerry Ludwig took us on a walk around the house to demonstrate how homeowners should inspect their own houses. As the sun went down and the rain started to fall, we went inside the barn to hear architect and trustee Virginia Searl explain the most cost-effective ways homeowners can improve the energy efficiency of their houses. I learned a lot and came out of the session with a long to-do list for upcoming weekends!

When I saw the list of four topics to be covered in this fall’s workshops, the one that jumped out at me was this week’s topic: “Composting 101.” The relevance of this topic might not be immediately apparent, so I thought I’d share my own perspective on why this is part of the series. (I could have just asked Rebecca, who coordinates the series, or Beverly, who is doing the presentation, but instead I’ll just take a stab at it and they can let me know if I’m right!)

I suppose the most obvious answer is that our houses and gardens are closely intertwined, and often people with an interest in one have an interest in the other. On a more philosophical note, it’s about being stewards who live in the present but are aware of the past and the future. As the current owner of an old house, I see myself as part of a continuum that reaches back to previous owners and forward to the future generations who will someday love and care for my house as I do today. As my family adapts our 1920s house to our own needs and desires, we have a responsibility to treat what our predecessors have left us with respect and to think ahead to what we will leave to the next owners.

Whether we think about it consciously or not, we old-house owners are recyclers, choosing to re-use precious resources rather than to create something new. In my family’s case, and I suspect in many of yours, this is indeed a conscious decision and one that we are trying to extend to other aspects of our lives. Recognizing that we are temporary stewards of the environment just as we are temporary stewards of this house, we are making an effort to think more carefully about the environmental impacts of many things we do, from the food we eat to the household products we use; we're trying not to throw away things we could reuse and to recycle as much as possible. This year, we, like many other families, started a vegetable garden for the first time, inspired by a desire to eat as locally as possible. In our small, mostly shady, city lot, we grew peas, carrots, green beans, tomatoes, and peppers; not only did these taste better than any other veggies we’ve ever had, they were a great teaching tool for our kids, who got a kick out of watching those tiny seeds grow into plants and into food we could eat (or in their case, not eat).

Composting, of course, is part of that continuum. My family has a kitchen scrap pail and a tumbling compost bin, so even the clipped tomato branches and carrot peels are not wasted but are going right back to make next year’s garden even better.

I look forward to hearing Beverly’s tips Tuesday night and hope to see you there! To buy tickets in advance or to read about the rest of our series, check our website.

By Katie Eggers Comeau, Advocacy Coordinator