Sustainability Resources

Submitted by Ca Heritage Boare Member at: April 28, 2009
Hello again. We have won a short respite. Our main concerns was that the mandatory existing building upgrade ordinance (goal: 80% of homes by 2015), would pass before adequate accomodations for historic and potentially historic homes could be implemented. The local window replacement contractors are lined up and ready to go. We have a little time to apply the good work of places such a Boulder to our mild climate here. We would welcome ANY insights into the advantages/disadvantages of prescriptive vs incentive-based ordinances. Is hard data on embodied energy or life cycle cost of new/old materials available yet? We would love to hear how the Feebate system in Portland is working out. Do you find that well-intentioned individuals come in mis-informed regarding window replacement or damaging insulation or other "upgrades"? Would welcome comments from Planning and Building Department staff in particular. Does anyone have policies that protect POTENTIALLY eligible buildings? We have a large body of structures that will be potentially eligible for listing in the next decade, but will remain unprotected from historically damaging energy upgrades. Thank you for any insights. Mark DeBacker

Submitted by Ca Heritage Bd Member at: February 17, 2009
Help! I am an architect with a strong preservation background, newly appointed to the Cultural Heritage Board of a small city (200,000) in California that has just decided it wants to be the Greenest place on the planet. Using groundwork set by the previous City Council, the new (and very Green) Council is acting rapidly with staff support to be the first city in California with MANDATORY green requirements for ALL new construction. To this they will be adding mandatory upgrades to ALL EXISTING BUILDINGS within the next 60 days. Historic buildings and Districts are not excluded (unlike all other jurisdictions). The current plan is to apply HERS, Build-it-Green and LEED to evaluate and score the various building classes. These are not currently configured, as you know for older structures. They are determined to act quickly on this to save the planet (weeks not months). I need all available assistance to get them to understand the principles of Embodied Energy and example ordinances that provided reasonable modifications to HERS, BIG and LEED as they apply to historic properties,.. QUICKLY! I have reviewed the new LEED 2009, and while it signicantly improves the situation for commerical buildings, it must be acknowledged as just a start. This is happening so fast. BIG and HERS are almost completely oriented at new construction and would guide citizens to significant damage to their historic properties, if unrevised. Using some of the available refernences, we have a few Council members who seem to understand that windows should not be replaced as a first priority. The greatest, most immediate need is for well thought-through modifications to HERS, BIG and LEED that we can offer as amendments. There is no time to develop them in a comprehensive way here. Several members were disappointed they could not pass it on thier first meeting in January, and after some additional input this month, will tolerate only about 30 to 60 days more delay to put something together for our mild climate. Grateful for any help you can offer, Mark DeBacker, CSI, CHB