The 100 Mile House: Why the Greenest Building Just Might Be the One That Already Exists
This program explores the idea that the preservation and reuse of historic buildings not only protects our architectural heritage and makes for more vibrant communities but that it can also be a good choice in terms of energy conservation and sustainability. The program starts with creating an appreciation for the very local nature of an historic building – where its materials came from, how it was made and who made it. From this comes an understanding that these existing buildings contain a tremendous amount of “embodied” energy, energy spent a long time ago and, if you factor this into the existing building versus new construction equation, existing buildings look very good in comparison. The program also discusses how to make historic buildings much more energy efficient and where to best spend one’s energy improvement dollars (Hint – it’s not in replacing windows!).
Wednesday, January 7th, 1pm at the Wells Memorial Library