Green Renovation

It can be challenging to resist the appeal of moving into a newly-constructed house, and can be even harder not to be attracted to brand-new electrical systems, appliances, floors, cooling and heating, etc. The majority of us are intimidated by buying an old place; however, there are still a few buyers who can see the beauty and potential within four walls that are full of history and old-world charm that can't be duplicated (Motovo, 2018). There are many advantages for older houses over the newly structured ones; the reason behind why some houses stood the test of time and are still standing after 100 years, is that they were simply well-made; old houses, usually built before 1970, were built to last using materials that are almost impossible to find in the market place these days; for example, most old houses were built with wood of old-growth trees, therefore they have more resistant to warping and rot, and provide better thermal and sound insulation. These houses most likely were carefully constructed by a master house-builder, who did not have synthetic materials in his vocabulary (Niko,2017).

Old houses kept the characteristic of the time it was built in, such as the patterned hardwood floors, authentic stained-glass, big heavy doors and distinctive moldings, which cannot be found in modern houses. Additionally, the backyard of median size houses has decreased from 8,250 square feet to 6,970 square feet in the period between 1990 and 2016. So for people who are looking for bigger backyards, most likely they will find what they are looking for in older houses, which are usually found in the best-established locations in the city, closer to downtowns in stable neighborhoods, where commercial centers are not around to disturb their peace (Motovo, 2018).

Green renovation is an attractive topic in the real estate market, where Green is selling well, as many people are considering the value behind using green technologies and practices to upgrade existing houses. Green renovations can make houses healthier by simply maximizing the flow of fresh air and reducing indoor pollution; occupants of green buildings continue to report having less asthma and fewer allergies. It also improves life quality by using safe building materials that reduce people’s exposure to toxins. Additionally, Green renovation has a great payback value in the short as well as the long term; it can quickly reduce the utility bills, and increase the resale value of houses, knowing that 90% of house buyers in the U.S. these days are willing to pay extra for a green-house since they realize the added value that they offer (Clark, 2019).

Community is also a big part of the green movement. Through green renovation, the impact on the community can be reduced by features added during remodeling like minimizing landfills. Purchasing renovation supplies from local stores supports the local economy and reduces the pollution caused by material transport. Comparing traditional renovations to green ones, the green renovation creates much less municipal waste, and uses fewer resources, which will help in protecting water, air, wildlife, and plants, making this planet a better place (Cloos, 2015).

Significant time and effort have been spent on improving building science researches to provide the construction industry with valuable information to help making projects greener. Green building is a hot topic in the construction market, but what about the existing houses? Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies stated that more than 120 million homes are more than 32 years old, and more than $230 billion is spent yearly on renovating them. If every house is remodeled in a green way, then each homeowner will experience decades of reduced energy bills, healthier air, improved comfort, and lower maintenance cost (HGTV, 2019).

There will always be more old houses than new ones, where older houses tend to lack efficiency, leading to increased expenses of utilities. However, utilities by their nature are part of the global market, directing money away from local economies. The green renovation aims to invest money in making houses more efficient, giving a chance for that money to be locally spent on labor and materials (Cloos, 2015). A study conducted by the National Trust for Historic Preservation showed that renovating older buildings is greener than new green construction. The study focused on residential buildings in Chicago, Phoenix, and Atlanta, considering the environmental impacts over a 75-year lifetime, where it was found that benefits of renovating buildings outweighed the ones of constructing new green structures which takes on average 45 years to overcome the negative impacts and contraption in climate change during the construction process. Even a LEED Platinum building holds a carbon debt that it takes decades to be paid off. A life cycle analysis was used to analyze the buildings in 4 categories: human health, climate change, resource depletion, and ecosystem quality. The results came out showing that savings of renovated buildings exceeded the newly constructed ones by 25% on average.

Additionally, the study explained how if cities would aim to reuse the older houses that are expected to be demolished within the next 10 years, cities would reduce their CO2 emissions by 15% (Buildings.com, 2012). More than 80 billion sqft of the U.S. existing space was expected to be demolished between 2005 and 2030, and that is almost 25% of the existing U.S. building stock. Reusing these buildings gives the communities a chance in avoiding unnecessary carbon production and help in achieving their near-term carbon emission goals. This means it is crucial to spend time on renovating existing buildings as much as we do on new green construction (Sifferlin, 2012).