Vol. 8, No. 3   

Inside this issue:

The East Cesar Chavez Neighborhood Planning Team would like to thank the Austin Heritage Society members who over the last decade have provided us assistance to try to preserve the historic character of our neighborhood.  The new ECC Local Historic
District Subcommittee is thankful for our new intern,  and we need more neighbors to join us to conduct historical research and to identify cultural and historic assets in our neighborhood. Volunteers can work at their own pace gathering information, taking photos, writing descriptions, and fundraising.  We have over 100 sites that need to be adopted and  researched. We need donations by graphic artists, sign makers, webmasters, and marketing agents.  Interested?  Call our Historic District Chair, Amy Thompson at 499-0780 or mankin76@gmail.com  We'd like to share excerpts of an article written by one of our allies:

Excerpts from: "Preservation Means True Sustainability"
by Lin Team
Saving energy is what it's about these days in Austin city government.  Mayor Will Wynn has made energy-efficiency a priority …. saving energy in residential and commercial buildings.  As the Heritage Society will bring attention to the value that exists in older buildings and the risk of squandering the energy and materials invested in them long ago. 

Much focuses on building new green buildings to replace old buildings that are portrayed as energy wasters.  But the facts do not square.  Before 1940, buildings were built with natural heating and cooling characteristics and were sited for prevailing winds, wide eaves, large windows and sheltering porches in warm climates. The U.S. Green Building Council, organized in 1993, initiated the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards for new construction in 1998. 

"The most energy-efficient building is one that already exists."  That saying refers to the fact that existing buildings "embodied energy" which would be wasted if demolished.  The U.S. Green Building Council and the National Trust for Historic Preservation … launched the Trust's sustainability initiative to promote historic preservation as a key component of strategies for energy conservation. 

Conservation and preservation have always been closely linked.  The Trust's new sustainability campaign is providing leadership in the context of urgent and widespread interest in energy conservation.  An aspect of sustainability is the life span of what is built.  Before World War II,  buildings were built to last.  Today's buildings will not last much longer than their mortgages.  Now that global warming is upon us, it is crucial to end such extravagant waste. 

"According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, commercial buildings constructed prior to 1920 have an average energy consumption of 80,127 BTUs per square foot.  For the more efficient buildings built since 2000, that number is 79,703 BTUs."   According to Mike Jackson, chief architect of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency,

if the embodied energy is worked into the equation, even a new, energy-efficient office building doesn't actually start saving energy for about 40 years.  And if it replaces an older building that was knocked down and hauled away, the break-even period stretches to some 65 years, since demolition and disposal consume significant amounts of energy.  "There's no payback here, "Jackson said.  "We're not going to build anything today that's going to last 65 years."

The Heritage Society will advocate for saving our older buildings as a first priority for the city's energy conservation programs. We provide information for our members and the public on the value of older buildings.  We will also suggest ways for homeowners to improve the efficiency of their older homes. Learn  more at www.heritagesocietyaustin.org

Next page →