When the largest historic preservation organization in the United States starts it’s own sustainability initiative, others take notice. Founded in 1949 as a national organization dedicated to the preservation of historic buildings and communities, The National Trust for Historic Preservation is now 270,000 members strong. Started in 2006, the Trust’s Sustainability Initiative seeks to promote the reuse of historic buildings as part of an overall green building strategy.
As befits the work of a historic preservation organization, the initiative focuses heavily on the rehabilitation of historic properties as a sustainability strategy. They are also involved in lobbying the US Green Building Council and other organizations to set policies and rating systems which would be favorable to historic preservation projects. So… it’s best to approach their work with this viewpoint in mind.
But… the initiative does provide an all important link between the historic preservation and sustainable building communities. Their web site includes some great information for historic property owners on how to incrementally make their properties more environmentally responsible. They also provide some interesting case studies of major green renovation projects.
You can learn more about the initiative and see some of their research and case studies at http://www.nationaltrust.org/green/index.html.
Tags: green building, historic, historic preservation, National Trust, preservation, sustainability
