Often targets for wrecking balls, existing older buildings are a recognized but sadly underutilized repository for lessons in history, technology, economics, social structure, culture, and on and on. Now we are being told that existing buildings are also the source of a whopping 43% (some say higher) of our country’s carbon footprint and that demolition and new construction bumps this number up even more. But on the bright side, as a result of dealing with the problem, existing buildings could become a locus for developing awareness of sustainable, green building practices. Will we finally pay attention? Are we up to the challenge?
The Township of South Orange Village has owned the building known as the Old Stone House since 1953 during which time it was used for various municipal purposes. According to Brian Hanlon, VP and former president of the South Orange Historical and Preservation Society (SOHPS) and a member of the Old Stone House Task Force, the building is a rare document of development from the frontier to 20th century suburbia reflecting fashions and styles of the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. There’s historic fabric from all of those periods and much of it is visible, he said. This is why preservation regulations will only support restoration of the entire structure and not just the earliest portion, as is often urged by village officials whose primary purpose is, and has been, to stay within ever shrinking budgets. Further complicating matters, with global warming front and center, Old Stone House advocates are adding terms like "sustainable" and "green" into the mix when they talk about restoration, and new questions of cost and appropriateness are surfacing.
On the State and National Registers of Historic places because of its long and intricate history, the Old Stone House first appears as a mention in the minutes of a Newark town meeting held to distribute land grants on Sept. 27, 1680. It is now believed to be the oldest dateable house in New Jersey, and according to Joanne Douds - VP of Development and Global Markets at Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty – it is possibly one of the oldest historic structures in America. However, although it has been owned by the town for the past 50 years, due to the vicissitudes of cost and municipal planning, it has been vacant since 1983, effectively pitting cost-conscious administrations against citizen action groups dedicated to preserving the building. During this time, there has been much sound and fury and gnashing of teeth, but little was actually done to protect the building, which has steadily deteriorated. An early estimate for the entire restoration originally came in at under $500,000; local preservation architect, David Abramson, was lined up and a plan was developed. But the political will was not there to push it through, and then – stalemate. After many more battles, the house was finally stabilized in 2009. The stabilization is expected to prevent further deterioration for the next five years as a plan for use or demolition is developed. But in today’s dollars, the costs for stabilization alone came in at $400,000, restoration could run into the millions.
According to Patrice Frey, Deputy Director of the Sustainability Program and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, cost notwithstanding, there are many tangible benefits to be had from greening existing buildings and preserving them sustainably. Not the least of these is modifying the carbon emissions which come from the operation of existing buildings. For those who would solve the problem by demolishing the old and rebuilding with new construction, she says there are studies that show that if you demolish a building and rebuild a new energy-efficient building it would take about thirty to fifty years for the new building to recapture all of the carbon that was expended during that construction process. There is no way to reduce carbon without greening our existing building stock, Ms. Frey says. And while the economic slowdown has helped turn our attention and efforts toward supporting existing buildings, building new in many instances is still more exciting, and it will take a while to overcome that kind of excitement. We know we have to build some new buildings, she said, but we really need to think about how we can maximize the use of what’s already been built.
To move their environmental initiative forward the Trust created a "Green Lab" in March, ’09, which will operate out of a new field office based in Seattle, WA. As its name suggests, the Green Lab will focus on preserving older and historic buildings sustainably, as well as on becoming a platform for supporting the broader goal of fighting climate change. Green lab is a component of the sustainability program and a good portion of their work will be focused on policy effecting climate change and the built environment -- finding ways to promote preservation as a strategy at the state and local levels. Initial projects will take place in the pilot cities of Seattle, WA; Debuqe, IA; and San Francisco, CA. After that, the program hopes to expand to other locations. The goal is to raise awareness of the relationship between our built environment, our carbon footprint, and the urgency needed for developing strategies for greening our country’s existing building stock. http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/sustainability/green-lab/
The key to changing our entrenched preference for new buildings is to develop public understanding, Ms. Frey emphasizes. This must be done through developing policy and creating consensus, which means helping people to understand that there are enormous environmental costs that come with new construction, and the importance of reducing those costs whenever we can. In other words, she said, they want to get into the collective consciousness that it’s important to recycle buildings the way you would recycle bottles and coke cans. People are starting to wake up to this idea, she said.
As a result of their eco-initiative, the National Trust for Historic Preservation is taking a stand and will point to examples of sustainable development as it effects climate change. Their website states that "Historic preservation can – and should – be an important component of any effort to promote sustainable development...Because, the conservation and improvement of our existing built resources, including re-use of historic and older buildings, greening the existing building stock, and reinvestment in older and historic communities, is crucial to combating climate change." http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/sustainability/ Individual examples are beginning to multiply as well, and it is important to note them. For example, realtor, Maria Morrison Heningburg, is an advocate for rehabilitating the Old Stone House sustainably. Working with the owners of a drafty old 1880s Victorian she is listing in Rahway she related that they spent $30,000 to upgrade their heating and cooling systems with a solar component, and now have zero gas and electric costs. The house has a reasonable number of rooms, but a very large footprint: a large living room and one of the biggest dining rooms she’s ever seen. "They decided to invest in green HVAC up front, and now it’s paying off," she said. "It’s phenomenal."
According to recently appointed USGBC-NJ executive director, Florence Block, "USGBC NJ and National concur with the National Trust for Historic Preservation core philosophies that address the fact that buildings create the greatest energy usage – are the highest contributor to the carbon footprint and Greenhouse Gas Emissions – and have developed best practices to transform the market of the Built Environment that will reduce these destroyers of our environment and ultimately the quality of life for our children."
"USGBC’s New Construction platform for LEED Certification of New Construction originated in 2000 – with the Existing Building (EB) Certification Category introduced in 2005," she said. "Now, LEED for Existing Building and Operations & Maintenance (EBOM as it is called today) is the fastest growing sector within USGBC with registration rising from 95 projects in 2006 to 2,122 projects in 2008."
Providing an overview, Ms. Block noted that USGBC’s guiding principles are founded on the following goals:
1. Driving down net building‐related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including those related to transport, materials, water‐use, and building systems, through LEED certification and complementary tools and programs.
2. Reducing natural resource depletion by transforming building and community design and construction paradigms through LEED certification and the promotion of holistic life‐cycle assessment and regenerative/restorative design in the building community.
3. Conducting and supporting research concerning building‐related GHG emissions and use of depleted and endangered resources, and regularly monitoring and publicizing economy‐wide progress in reducing building‐related GHG emissions and resource use.
4. Supporting the development of robust measurement methodologies and tools to assess the carbon footprint of buildings and promote carbon emission reduction programs that ensure accuracy, accountability, transparency, and integrity in reporting.
5. Educating building owners and users about the role of the built environment in climate change and resource depletion and the tools available to reduce carbon footprints and resource use associated with the built environment.
6. Developing and advocating carbon policies and codes that drive down GHG emissions from the built environment and create incentives for the development of net zero carbon emissions buildings and built environments.
Although the problems we face which are caused by the built environment may seem insurmountable at times, it seems to this observer that we are moving in a positive direction. Reaching the public, opinion-makers, and the electorate is central if we are ultimately to succeed in turning our lumbering society’s ship-of-state into a more healthful and sustainable channel. Efforts like preserving the Old Stone House in South Orange; sustainable historic preservation projects promoted by the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Green Lab; and newly on the drawing board USGBC-NJ historic preservation projects can be and should be at the center of this effort to focus attention where attention needs to be.
Jacqueline Herships is a journalist, strategic communications and new business development specialist working to build public understanding of sustainability, green building, smart growth, community redevelopment and the environment. Her column, "Spotlight on Green Builders," is available for reprint. For further information she can be reached at: jacqueline@jacquelineherships.com or 973-763-7555