Why Energy Efficiency and Historic Buildings Are Not Mutually Exclusive

By Kelly Larson
Michigan Main Street Architect
State Historic Preservation Office
Michigan Department of History, Arts & Libraries

In my position, I hear a lot of people talk about how historic buildings in our downtowns are inefficient in their use of energy and are a financial drain because of it. While I certainly can’t deny that’s not the case to a property owner struggling to pay their electric bills, the truth is historic buildings ARE energy efficient. They were designed and built that way. The problem is that they haven’t been maintained to STAY energy efficient.

Historic buildings utilize many of the “green” and “sustainable” principles that most of us are striving for in new buildings. The buildings were constructed mostly from local materials and had thick masonry walls that absorbed heat during the day and radiated it back out at night. They had awnings over storefronts minimizing heat-gain into the building, vents in the storefront’s bulkheads allowing ventilation in the basement, exterior transom windows capturing and directing natural daylight deep into the building, and interior transoms above doors allowing for natural air ventilation throughout the building.

But like everything, historic buildings need routine maintenance. And during the recent past, say past 50 to 60 years when energy was cheap and “going green” was unheard of (or at least not yet cool), people forgot to maintain a building’s natural ability to heat and cool itself.

As an example, many people chose to remove the large storefront windows of their buildings because they were drafty. Instead of having a smaller maintenance expense to reseal around the edges of the windows, they ended up spending more in the long run by enclosing the storefront with smaller windows and unknowingly drastically increasing the cost of lighting the interior space.

Another example is a building’s original upper-floor wood windows. Most people think these windows need to be replaced in order to improve energy efficiency. In reality, these windows just need to be maintained. If the windows were properly sealed, weather-stripped, and included a storm window, it’s highly likely the original window could be just as efficient as a new window.

Through proper maintenance, a historic building can be energy efficient. For more information, the National Park Service has many excellent publications including “Preservation Brief #3: Conserving Energy in Historic Buildings”