[Greenbuilding] Fwd: Why retrofit beats newbuild in the battle against carbon

Reuben Deumling 9watts at gmail.com
Mon Apr 2 17:31:42 CDT 2012


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Comment: Why retrofit beats newbuild in the battle against carbon****

19/3/2012****

*The carbon created by newbuild construction means retrofits can be more
efficient in established cities like New York, says Mads Jensen *

Eight years - that's how long it can take for a new energy efficient
building to compensate for the climate change impact created by its
construction, according to a report by the US Preservation Green
Lab<http://www.preservationnation.org>,
*The greenest building: quantifying the environmental value of building
re-use. *While the average carbon payback is closer to 20-30 years, this is
a stark reminder that new isn't always best when it comes to the energy
consumption of buildings.****

*Architectural beauties* ****

This is an important lesson for cities like New York, where 75 percent of
the city's energy consumption goes to its buildings, according to estimates
in the city's green strategy (PlaNYC). Given that 55 percent of those
already standing existed before 1940, it's no surprise that there's room
for improvement.  But a debate has been raging in New York urban
sustainability circles about whether it's better to preserve and retrofit
old buildings or build anew with greener standards in mind. No one wants to
lose the treasured architectural beauties that give the city its special
character, but the calling of a green economy makes it imperative to
address these old spaces' overconsumption of energy.****

*Serious approach* ****

City officials have heard the call, and are taking the performance of older
buildings seriously. The Municipal Art Society, together with the Landmarks
Preservation Commission, environmental consultant Terrapin and architect
Cook + Fox, is working on a manual for greening landmark buildings. The
manual, *Greening New York City's landmarks: a guide for property owners*,
will be published in the autumn and be available, free, online.****

The benefits of retrofitting old buildings rather than building new are
obvious to many of us, and we're glad to see that local governments are
adopting this perspective too. To further analyse whether to retrofit or
not, Sefaira Concept can be used to compare the two strategies during the
concept design phase when it is not so expensive to do such investigation.**
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*Mads Jensen is co-founder and chief executive of sustainable building
software company, Sefaira <http://www.sefaira.com/>. This article first
appeared on the Sefaira website.*****

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