Energy efficiency for existing buildings was a major topic of conversation at the National Trust for Historic Preservation's national conference earlier this month. New Hampshire's "green" efforts, easements that blend conservation and preservation goals, and growing field service program were offered as examples of "best practices" for colleagues around the country.

The Preservation Alliance's ideas for promoting environmental and economic sustainability are included in our 2009 Green Guidelines publications. (Click here for a copy for state policy-makers, and click here for a copy for local decision-makers).  The use and construction of buildings as buildings represent 59% of all fossil use in the state.

The re-use of historic buildings, reinvestment in downtowns and villages, and protection of historic landscapes can -- and should -- be central ingredients in environmental and economic sustainability  policies for the state of New Hampshire. This document is a guide for promoting public policies that direct investment toward those goals and strengthen our historic downtowns and town centers, agriculture and forestry, existing housing stock and cultural tourism.

While the marketplace often urges us to consider new as better, data from the U.S. Energy Information Agency shows that the only buildings more energy efficient than buildings built before 1920 are those built after 2000. The majority of these pre-1920 buildings were constructed using repairable and often local materials and were sited and designed to minimize heating and cooling requirements. That doesn't mean that historic buildings are always as energy efficient as they might be; but old buildings can, and should, go green.

Historic preservation practice encourages us to look beyond operating energy to the total energy associated with a building's development. Energy is used to extract and create building materials, transport them, and assemble them into a building. Recent calculations indicate that it takes about 35-50 years for an energy efficient new building to recover the embodied carbon expended in construction.  Original materials, and existing buildings, contain embodied energy, an environmental asset destroyed by modern replacement.

We need "green" planning as much as green design. Investment in older and historic villages and downtowns can reduce demands for transportation, new infrastructure and new building materials.   Compact development and use of existing infrastructure can also help protect important open space, farm land and forest land.

New Hampshire leaders are well positioned to address critical energy and economic issues. The Governor's Climate Change Action Plan has engaged industry, government and other civic leaders on these topics. New Hampshire legislators advanced several regional, state and locally-focused energy-related initiatives last session. Private and public sector community development programs offer opportunities to direct existing resources to meet critical needs.

We appreciate the National Trust for Historic Preservation's good work on these topics (www.nthp.org) as well as generous financial support for Green Guidelines and related activities from the Richard and Julia Moe Preservation Fund for Statewide and Local Partners of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Finegold Alexander + Assocates and other donors.