Press Release
National Trust for Historic Preservation President Richard Moe Calls for Preservation’s Essential Role in Combating Climate Change
Calls for Policies that Encourage Reuse of Existing Infrastructure: “It makes no sense to recycle aluminum cans while throwing away entire buildings”
Washington, D.C. (December 13, 2007) – Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, tonight called for historic preservation’s “essential role” in fighting climate change, in a speech following his receipt of the National Building Museum’s prestigious 2007 Vincent Scully Prize.
Full text of the speech is available at http://www.nationaltrust.org/news/2007/20071213_scully.html
Richard Moe receives the Vincent Scully Prize. (From left, Richard Schwarz, chair of the Vincent Scully Prize jury, Richard Moe, Vincent Scully, and Chase Rynd, president of the National Building Museum.)Construction and operation of buildings, Moe noted, contributes 48% of America’s greenhouse gases – nearly double that of cars, trucks, trains and airplanes – and even construction of the greenest new building contributes to global warming. Despite that, Moe said, the most talked about solution to global warming is building new, greener buildings, often destroying an old one in the process. “We can’t build our way out of our environmental problems. We have to conserve our way out. That means we have to make better, wiser use of what we’ve already built.”
To illustrate the breadth of the issue, Moe presented the following statistics:
- Building a new 50,000 square foot building releases as much carbon into the atmosphere as driving a car 2.8 million miles.
- Demolishing a 50,000 square foot commercial building creates more than 4,000 tons of waste – enough to fill 26 railroad boxcars – a train one quarter mile long
- A report from the Brookings Institution projects that over the next 23 years nearly 1/3 of our existing buildings – 82 billion square feet – will be demolished. Absent any recycling, that will create 5.5 billion tons of waste, enough to fill 2,500 NFL stadiums.
- The energy to demolish and replace those buildings could power the state of California for 10 years
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has been invited to work with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to develop guidelines within their LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system to recognize the value of preservation. Under the current LEED ratings system, reusing 75% of an existing building core and shell is assigned the same value as merely using environmentally friendly carpet. Additionally, sprawl development buildings can still receive the highest, Platinum LEED certification. New guidelines would give more weight to preservation and other anti-sprawl factors.
Moe announced that the National Trust has launched a sustainability initiative to advocate for new policies and gather data on rehabilitation and reuse of buildings. The National Trust is also integrating environmentally sound practices in the operation of its historic sites, such as the LEED certified Robert H. Smith Visitors Education Center at President Lincoln’s Cottage, opening in February.
Moe outlined policy recommendations, currently in development, including calls for:
- Strong national leadership, preferably at the cabinet level, incorporating a significantly strengthened Environmental Protection Agency, and relevant parts of the Department of Energy and other federal entities to deal with the threats of climate change;
- A thoroughgoing revision of government policies that currently encourage unsustainable development and an epidemic of sprawl;
- Federal policy (which will influence state and local policy) that directs growth towards existing communities, and improves the livability and viability of those communities;
- Expanded use of rehabilitation tax credits to apply to buildings over 30 years old that are not necessarily historic but still re-usable;
- Tax incentives for private homeowners that will help them employ green technology in maintaining and renovating their homes;
- Local building codes that allow flexibility and innovation in making existing buildings more energy efficient;
- Improving green rating systems to recognize the importance of building reuse and discourage “green sprawl”;
- Major outreach to property owners, preservationists, architects, developers, policy makers, the media and the general public about the benefits of preserving and reusing existing buildings.
To download the speech, go to http://www.nationaltrust.org/news/2007/20071213_scully.html