On Earth Day, let’s acknowledge the inherent sustainability of historic houses.
This illustration from “Restoring Your Historic House, The Comprehensive Guide for Homeowners” shows where the materials to build Whitten House in Topsham, ME, came from in the 19th century. The house today is shown in the second image.
Local natural materials transported and fabricated by water and wind power define sustainable construction. A modern “net zero” house, super-efficient in energy use but built of un-natural materials transported from all over the world by fossil fuels can’t come close to a typical historic house on the carbon footprint of construction and overall sustainability.
Our world benefits when we reuse what we have, taking advantage of the energy and resources invested by our predecessors. We can improve the use of energy by historic buildings for far less cost than building new. The most sustainable building is the one that is already built.
The issues of sustainability and energy efficiency are covered in depth in “Restoring Your Historic House, The Comprehensive Guide for Homeowners.”
Signed and personalized copies of the award-winning and bestselling 720-page hardcover book are available from the author at YourHistoricHouse.com/shop/ and through the shop on this page.
Our shop also carries select preservation and restoration titles by other authors. Save on cost and shipping with our multi-book combo packs!
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