March 31, 2009

by Katie Throne

The Connection Between Sustainability and Traditional Building

In the February issue of Traditional Building, nine distinguished architects discuss “The Changing Architectural Practice in the Age of Lean.” All of them cite a high level of client awareness on sustainability, particularly among governmental and educational institutions. All of them discuss the ways in which sustainable building practices imbue the culture of their firms. And to a person, they articulate the link between saving the planet and saving traditional buildings.

For example, according to Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP), “a 500,000-square-foot building has embodied energy of 800 billion BTUs. That’s the equivalent of 6.5 million gallons of oil. If this building is demolished, all this energy is wasted.” Moe was speaking at last fall’s Greenbuild Conference in Boston. He had a few other interesting observations.

“Demolishing a 500,000-square-foot building creates 40,000 tons of debris, enough to fill 250 railroad boxcars, a train two miles long, headed for the landfill.”

“Constructing a new 500,000-square-foot building would release as much carbon into the atmosphere as driving a car 30 million miles.”

“It takes 35 to 50 years for an energy-efficient new home to recover the carbon expended to construct it.”

Moreover, traditional buildings constructed before 1940 are more sustainable by design because they have thicker thermal walls, boast operable windows, possess a better orientation to the environment, use local materials, are often on transportation corridors and are part of existing infrastructure.

To read more about the role of traditional building in climate change from the President of Restore Media LLC, click HERE.

sustainability | architecture | building

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