Why the Most Environmental Building is the Building We've Already Built

From: The Atlantic Cities, Place Matters by Emily Badger

“Reusing an old building pretty much always has less of an impact on the environment than tearing it down, trashing the debris, clearing the site, crafting new materials and putting up a replacement from scratch. This makes some basic sense, even without looking at the numbers.”

“Retrofit an existing building to make it 30 percent more efficient, the study found, and it will essentially always remain a better bet for the environment than a new building built tomorrow with the same efficiencies. Take that new, more efficient building, though, and compare its life cycle to an average existing structure with no retrofitting, and it could still take up to 80 years for the new one to make up for the environmental impact of its initial construction.” Click here for link to article

What many people never realize is re-using an existing building is virtually always the most environmentally healthy thing we can do. Consider if the building was a warehouse or a school and we are re-using it as offices and residential it will still be “Greener” than a new building.
The existing building may or may not be a designated historic building. The reason for saving the building may not be for historical purposes. There may be other reasons including Zoning, economics or sentimentality. When a new building is built, a lot of natural resources are depleted to provide the construction materials and manufacture and ship everything. When an existing building is renovated there is environmental saving in a steel, wood or masonry structure that already exists. The exterior brick or siding is already there. There may even be interior walls that can be re-used. Also there may be a combination of thousand of smaller items that can be saved and re-used – hardware for example.
It is much easier for Architects, Engineers and Contractors to say “always build a new building”. Of course for them it is easier because they are starting with clean piece of paper. It is less complicated than trying to measure and evaluate an existing building and adapt it to a new user. But these professionals don’t have to pay for the total cost of construction and pay for the utility and maintenance expenses over its lifetime. On rare occasions it does make sense to start new, but this is acceptable when, for example, Target wants to build a store where an ice cream stand or gas station is.

How Old Is That Tree?

How old is that tree?  It is one of the many Live Oaks that line Jones Street in Savannah Georgia.  I took a few pictures that day because I was studying the homes for authentic historical accuracy, but I didn't pay attention to the tree till today.  The historic plaque on the house to the left says it was built 1861.  The house on the right is similar vintage.  Could the tree be similar in same age?  This street has to be one of the most beautiful residential streets in North America.  The picture was taken December 20th, 2010.  These homes are in the Savannah Landmark Historic District - one of many historic districts in Savannah.  It is also one the oldest designated historic districts in the United States.

Below are a few more pictures from that block (yes that is a real gas lamp in the picture):

Milwaukee Alderpersons Support High Speed Rail

Despite what Governor Elect Walker wants, the majority of Milwaukee Alderpersons support the federally funded high speed rail system.  The Governor Elect wants the federal money to be spent on Highways and not mass transit.  The allocated money, if Wisconsin refuses it, will not go to Wisconsin, it will be re-allocated to another state.  We will also become the brunt of jokes nationwide as is already beginning - many states want this money and many of them are jealous we have it.

I want to make a simple point that everyone (including republican politicians) should be able to understand.  If I give my my money involuntarily to another entity, and there is an opportunity for some of it to come back to me, I want it.  For example if I pay Uncle Sam a $1000 (this is an example, not the actual amount) and he decides to give me $50 back for a darn good reason, I will not refuse; because if I refuse it, Uncle Sam is going to give it to another guy in a different state.  I certainly don't want some newly elected dimwit telling Uncle Sam that me and 5.6 million other Wisconsinites don't want our share of a few billion dollars.  Especially after our current Governor and many Mayors worked very, very hard to get it.

As far as job creation goes - I have one neighbor who is very busy setting up the manufacturing facility to build the high speed rail cars.  I am sure if it proceeds as planned many people will find themselves involved, even I could be involved with designing one of the train stations.

I do not know why the manual on "How to be a Good Republican" says "thou shall hate high speed rail and all forms of mass transit".

Sierra Club, Green Building Council Launch Cool Cities Project

MILWAUKEE- Wisconsin Green Building Alliance and Sierra Club’s Cool Cities
program on Monday announced the launch of the Green Building for Cool Cities collaboration.

The partnership will leverage Cool Cities’ more than 200 local campaigns and USGBC’s national network of 78 chapters to encourage new and energy-efficient buildings.

For the rest of the article click here

VIEW THE GREEN BUILDING FOR COOL CITIES POLICY GUIDE

-From the Daily Reporter 25nov09