Worthy of Repetition

There’s nothing new in this article in the Guardian – Preserving historical buildings: the most sustainable thing is not to build new stuff – but that’s okay. The points in it are important enough that having them repeated every so often in a general publication like a newspaper is worth it. As a reminder:

• Existing buildings have a value even if they need renovation to continue in use.
• The kind of green construction used in new buildings can also be used in existing buildings.
• Demolition and new construction use far more energy than renovation and create far more material waste.
• The passive ventilation and temperature conditioning built into old buildings meets the same goals as their modern counterparts.
• “The most sustainable thing we can do is to not build new stuff.”