There are tradeoffs to implementing sustainable features into an older structure: difficulty securing design approval for historic properties, inflated cost figures, and the need for third party checks. These tradeoffs exist but can be overcome with proper information and skilled professionals.
'; var syn1 = 'Preservation is simply having the good sense to hold on to things that are well designed, that link us with our past in a meaningful way. Before modern technologies, homes were designed to work with their natural environment, not against. Design practices highlighted natural ventilation, day lighting, and spatial relationships that worked together to optimize natural energy in a structure. Older buildings tend to display a higher caliber of craftsmanship and durable materials. These features make older structures desirable to preserve for future generations.
Good building practices featured in Upstate Forever:
An immediate advantage of older buildings is that a building already exists. Preserving a structure, rather than building new, reduces the need for new materials. Reusing materials original to a structure recognizes and embodies resources and energy already expended. A sound infrastructure eliminates the need to excavate new land and lay a new building foundation. The U.S. Green Building council recognizes this preservation benefit through a Building Reuse Credit in their Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. Forty percent of waste that reaches a landfill is construction waste. Restoring older homes ensures less demolition and construction debris. Choosing to sort and recycle rehabilitation debris can result in significant reductions in final landfill waste. Finding new ways to repurpose, recycle, and reuse existing materials diverts already excavated materials from reaching a landfill and reduces the amount of new materials required for a building project.
Retention of original building stock in Upstate Forever:
Preservation and environmentalism share a common goal: conserving natural and cultural resources for future generations. Retention of history and authenticity is the goal of historic preservation projects. Preservation focuses on existing neighborhoods and infrastructure that can link a community to its roots in a sustainable way. Reusing land that has already been cleared prevents new land from excavation. This efficient land use reduces the depletion of natural and cultural resources and prevents urban sprawl. Older structures are generally centrally located. Revitalizing these properties encourages the redevelopment of compact, walkable communities. Bike racks, showers, and accesses to public transit are initiatives highlighted by LEED to encourage the rehabilitation of centrally located properties and for occupants to take advantage of alternative commuting. Adaptive reuse can rejuvenate abandoned buildings and revitalize historic urban centers.
Cultural ties strengthened by Upstate Forever project:
Rehabilitating an older building requires creative and flexible planning from every contributor in the project’s cycle. Full spectrum participation empowers building owners, designers, contractors, and construction workers at each point in the building process to get creative in formulating unique solutions to financial, political, design, and construction obstacles. Historic property design guidelines are set forth nationally by the Secretary of the Interior and interpreted locally by preservation boards. Working within such guidelines requires unique and innovative solutions to maintain a structure’s authenticity and integrity while integrating sustainable design elements. Modeling non-invasive, sustainable features can elevate the importance of preserving the environment and cultural resources simultaneously for future generations. Most importantly, adding green technologies to historic properties it can redefine the standard of a building’s integrity. When the original use for a building is no longer viable, a creative adaptive reuse can offer an economic model for preservation. For example, abandoned industrial textile buildings can be repurposed for commercial and residential uses, and, in the case of Upstate Forever, a residential building that is now in a commercial district can be repurposed for office.
Innovative design featured in Upstate Forever:
Local design guidelines for historic renovations are designed to maintain the historical significance and the physical integrity of a property. Two specific guidelines are at disjunction with sustainable retrofitting: avoid the addition of non-traditional elements and preserve the integrity of the building in its proper time period. Many sustainable design technologies could violate these standards. Features like solar panel technology, green roofs, and rain irrigation systems are visible from a structure’s exterior. Aesthetically, these modern additions could compromise the architectural style and historical visage of a property. If a structure is on the national historic register or located within a historic district, design plans must be approved by a local historic preservation board. Projects including green features could be vetoed depending on the board’s level of conservatism and traditionalism.
Design features in question for Upstate Forever:
There are two main polluters to indoor air quality: biological contaminates, like mold, dust, and debris, and chemical contaminates, like volatile compounds, asbestos, and formaldehydes. Preservation projects run into most indoor air quality setbacks as a result of biological contaminates. The HVAC system is often the source of air contamination because of moisture presence and subsequent mold growth. Ductwork in older homes is usually housed in an unsealed space, resulting in an environment for air exchange filled with dust and debris. This air is filtered inside of the building and compromises air quality. Testing potential sites of contamination, cleaning and replacing problem spots, and off-gassing new materials in construction project can be costly and time consuming in a rehabilitation project.
Indoor air quality setbacks in Upstate Forever:
Developing an open and trustful relationship between suppliers, architects, contractors, supervisors, construction workers, and end use customer is essential to a green initiative’s success. The use of third-party checks can ensure accountability at all project levels. Building commissioners and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification are third-party checks specific to green building. Building commissioning provides documented confirmation that building systems function according to criteria set forth in the project documents to satisfy the owner’s operational needs. For green building, this primarily focuses on achieving desired energy and water efficiency requirements set forth by the owner through. LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. The added time and money of third-party checks is a tradeoff to sustainable design, but it ensures that the owner’s goal of a green project is achieved.
Third-party checks used in Upstate Forever:
There is an up-front cost premium for going green. However, the premium doesn’t necessarily result from going “green” but rather from the scope that green project entail. Sustainable projects are more detailed and rigorous which results in a higher design fee. There are two strategies for green rehabilitation: a more natural approach, which optimizes embodied energy in a building, and a technological approach, which implements green technologies into a structure. The natural approach shouldn’t cost more to design; you shouldn’t pay extra for a project of comparable scope. High up-front costs attached to green technologies result from the cost of materials and the extra effort invested into implementing the feature. Costs can be curbed by a myriad of tax incentives and energy savings. This information is widely available and helps to calculate project payback and environmental impact helping to gauge whether a project makes economical sense. Buying locally sourced, rapidly renewable, recycled, and recyclable materials are responsible purchasing strategies for rehabilitation projects.
Overcoming the green cost premium in Upstate Forever: