Five tips for lovers of the land and the old houses

Editor's Note: Scientific American George Musser will be on their experiences in the installation of solar panels in the solar home (formerly 60-second solar). Read his introduction here and see all the posts here .

At the beginning of this week I raises the question of whether old houses will never be able to reduce their energy needs by the factor of five or so needed to combat climate change. My discussion was inspired, in part, a provocative essay written by preservationist Sally Zimmerman of historic New England last year.Yesterday he wrote to say that my post and the comments that people left have been widely distributed among inhalaba.Le offered some ideas that I think that you framework the question beautifully:

Here in New England, where we depend heavily on oil heat and where old houses are a major component of our homes, we have to deal with the apparent contradictions of conserving energy and the preservation of historic architecture.Does not mean that these two goals are in conflict? perhaps not if inhalaba and conservationists will find a way to learn about halfway.From the perspective of conservation, here are some thoughts on where we are coming from.

Old houses are not the problema: We can not solve the crisis of energy on the backs of our "old" houses. According to the Bureau of census of United States, slightly more than 8% of existing dwellings of the nation were built before 1920. Perhaps the nation making the "new" homes more energy efficient call "92 percent solution". Pioneering new technologies pay a higher price: Innovative Gadgets usually need some shelf time to lower the cost and to develop the errores.Deberíamos take this into account with cutting-edge technologies Greens and materials and keep them out of our old houses until you know are safe and effective. "Really" mansions (such as constructed houses more than 150 years) really aren't the place to experiment with the latest technologies: are too rare and important to be subjected to attack the most innovative energy strategies. Taking into account the age and the importance of a House will help balance the objectives of energy efficiency and historical preservation. Go ahead and pick the fruit of the baja-colgantes: By all means, do everything what can make your old house less consumptive energy with modifications is easily achieved and does not damage or destroy historic fabric: blower door test; air sealing; insulating floor attic, basement ceilings, pipes and ducts;Weather-stripping and the addition of storm Windows and doors; and maintenance of heating and cooling equipment attended Windows. Preservation of New England and energy groups already have partnered in a new guide which outlines a prudent strategies. And historic New England, with 36 museums House plans to retrofit the Estate Lyman for a reduction of 50 percent of the energy use with comprehensive, but reversible, interventions of 1793. Keep it simple:Sophisticated "restructuring deep energy" which include super-insulation of external walls, ceilings and performance foundations drastic reductions in energy consumption, but may have too many "moving parts" for an old House whose "parties" have most likely moved, changed, settled, decayed and generally existed mucked - far longer. The USGBC and American Society of interior designers offer good information on the scope of the profound energy retrofit but inhalaba invoked that this solution is best suited to the newer houses (see the "92 percent solution", above).Get with the programa:Energy interventions are a critical part of the solution to a global threat.The Advisory Council on historic preservation recently published programming prototype agreement with the Department of energy guidance provides for regulators preservation around the country to approve the conversion of energy that do not harm tissue significant or visible publicly aspects of properties historical. old houses have been adapted to new technologies before and they can once again that those of us who love old houses and our green planet approaching the interventions of energy with common sense and an open mind.

Lyman Estate.Cortesía historic New England energy audit