As the World Reels

Downside of Green Architecture
While we are appreciative of Cathleen McGuigan's opinions on the irony of building huge structures for "sustainability" ("The Bad News About Green Architecture," Sept. 22), her examples of green building all embodied cutting-edge technology and highlighted the irony of building green all while burning through nonrenewable resources. In doing so, however, she missed a stellar opportunity to educate the public further on one of the greenest of all construction options—adaptive reuse and preservation. Although preservation doesn't get a lot of attention as a sustainable design or "green" building technique, there are connections everywhere. Preservation has always been a green activity. New construction, no matter how green it is, uses valuable resources and energy and also creates waste. Furthermore, while the value of newer, greener construction can't be overlooked, it is crucial to understand that many of these technologies are able to be applied to existing buildings. The demolition of buildings in the United States generates at least 124 million tons of debris a year, all which ends up in a landfill. Reusing existing buildings lessens demands and conserves embodied energy in structures. In terms of energy use, many older buildings are already quite energy-efficient due to the quality of their construction. Traditional features such as operable shutters, courtyards, double-hung windows with operable upper and lower sashes, porches, real masonry construction and appropriate roof pitch naturally help to keep a building warm in winter and/or cool in summer. These attributes can even be retrofitted with newer technologies to continue to reduce their environmental footprint. The environmental value of the reuse, or continued use, of historic buildings gets much less attention than it should. We were hopeful that McGuigan would point this out while discussing the irony a "green" palace in Vegas whose visitors use tons of jet fuel to reach.

Laura K. Zavala
Director of Marketing
Katie Eggers Comeau
Advocacy Coordinator
The Landmark Society of Western New York, Inc.
Rochester, New York

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