Baltimore Stimulus Money Going to Rehabilitation, Not Replacement
by National Trust for Historic Preservation on September 29th, 2009Written by Adam Szymkowiak
There’s encouraging news for advocates of historic windows, energy efficiency, and sustainability from the City of Baltimore. The city is helping qualified residents with high utility bills save on energy through a federally funded weatherization program. Baltimore projects that the $15 million in weatherization funds will help 700 families per year lower their monthly energy bills. The program provides energy audits as well as building improvements such as fixing malfunctioning furnace and water heaters and adding insulation to areas where energy is commonly lost like attics. Baltimore’s program is using stimulus dollars to support preservation objectives, create jobs and save energy — a central message of the ongoing Perfect Storm effort .
Importantly… what the program will not do is use the funds for replacement windows. The city has found the energy saving benefits of replacement windows to be misleading. Michael A. Lafferty, a city Department of Housing and Community Development buildings superintendent, says, “It takes 90 years on average to pay back the cost of a replacement window.”
Congratulations are in order for Baltimore for recognizing that replacement windows are often not the solution to improving energy efficiency in older buildings. Unfortunately too many are still in the dark about the important role original windows have in the operating efficiency of buildings. This is why efforts have been made on our part to launch programs such as the Weatherization Guide to educate homeowners on ways to improve energy efficiency in their homes without sacrificing the historical integrity.
Baltimore’s program is a step in the right direction for both historic preservation and sustainability — here’s hoping this is the beginning of a trend.
Adam Szymkowiak is an intern in the State and Local Policy office at the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
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October 5th, 2009 at 7:49 am
We’ve just rehabilitated a building from 1834 in Alpharetta, Georgia (less than an hour north of Atlanta). We had quite an adventure and we’re still working to make improvements, now several months after opening our second office.
As a part of this effort, we were lucky to find a community about sustainability that would help us with all sorts of ideas. As you mention here, regarding the windows, it’s not always obvious how to weigh the competing demands of historic preservation and sustainability (not to mention figuring out what the design review board with approve). Whew – that’s a lot to worry about.
Anyways, I’d recommend resources like of course USGBC as well as a sustainability community such as MissionZero.org.