Sustainability, Energy Efficiency, Resilience & Historic Buildings

Historic properties can be made more sustainable, energy-efficient, and resilient, improving their performance and use while also preserving their historic character. Doing so not only improves their efficiency and livability but helps to ensure their long-term preservation. The NPS has been providing guidance and technical preservation information on these issues in relation to the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties for decades since producing one of its first Preservation Briefs on the subject of energy efficiency in 1978. Current NPS guidance and information are collected and presented below for easy access to further explore these topics.

Sustainability and Energy Efficiency

Case Studies

Additional case studies will be added as TPS launches a new weekly feature that will highlight rehabilitation projects illustrating sustainability, resilience, and other topics.

• 52-54 North Champlain Street, Burlington, Vermont
• Fuller Paint Company, Salt Lake City, Utah
• Gratz Street Rowhouses, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Green Roofs on Historic Buildings: National Bohemian Brewery, Baltimore, Maryland
• McCormick-Goodhart Mansion, Langley Park, Maryland
• Mutual Building, Lansing, Michigan
• Ogilvie Hardware Company, Shreveport, Louisiana
• Ottawa Street Power Plant, Lansing, Michigan
• Pier 15, San Francisco, California
• Royal Mills, Warwick, Rhode Island
• The Steuben Club, Chicago, Illinois

Other Guidance and Information

Windows

• Exterior Storm Windows: Casement Design Wooden Storm Sash, Preservation Tech Note-Windows No. 3
• Installing Insulating Glass in Existing Steel Windows, Preservation Tech Note-Windows No. 2
• Interior Metal Storm Windows, Preservation Tech Note-Windows No. 5
• Interior Storm Windows: Magnetic Seal, Preservation Tech Note-Windows No. 9
• Interior Storms for Steel Casement Windows, Preservation Tech Note-Windows No.15
• Maintenance and Repair of Historic Aluminum Windows, Preservation Tech Note-Windows No. 22
• The Repair and Thermal Upgrading of Historic Steel Windows, Preservation Brief No. 13
• The Repair of Historic Wooden Windows, Preservation Brief, No. 9
• Repairing and Upgrading Multi-Light Wooden Mill Windows Preservation Tech Note-Windows No. 16
• Replacement Windows that Meet the Standards, Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program
• Replacement Wood Sash Utilizing True Divided Lights and an Interior Piggyback Energy Panel, Preservation Tech Note-Windows No. 21
• Replacement Wooden Sash and Frames With Insulating Glass and Integral Muntins, Preservation Tech Note-Windows No. 6
• Thermal Retrofit of Historic Wooden Sash Using Interior Piggyback Storm Panels, Preservation Tech Note-Windows No. 8
• Window Awnings, Preservation Tech Note-Windows No. 7
• Evaluating Tinted and Reflective Glazing, Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program

Other Topics

• Adding Awnings to Historic Storefronts and Entrances, ITS No. 27
• Awnings, Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program
• Energy Efficiency, Sustainability, and Green Building Practices in Historic Buildings, Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program
• Incorporating Solar Panels in a Rehabilitation Project, ITS No. 52
• Installing Green Roofs on Historic Buildings, ITS No. 54
• Preserving Historic Wood Porches, Preservation Brief No. 45
• The Use of Awnings on Historic Buildings: Repair, Replacement, and New Design, Preservation Brief No. 44
• Window Awnings, Preservation Tech Note-Windows No. 7

Resilience

Case Studies

Additional case studies will be added as TPS launches a new weekly feature that will highlight rehabilitation projects illustrating sustainability, resilience, and other topics.

• Mandeville Street Firehouse, Mandeville, Louisiana
• Robinett Building, Greensburg, Kansas
• Dry Floodproofing a Wisconsin Main Street Building (see Case Studies, page 127)
• Wet Floodproofing a New Jersey Cottage (see Case Studies, page 131)
• Elevating a House on The Mississippi Gulf Coast (see Case Studies, page 135)
• Combined Flood Adaptations to Protect a Rhode Island Livery (see Case Studies, page 139)

Testing Traditional Materials for Flood Resilience

• Testing the Flood Resilience of Traditional Building Assemblies, APT Bulletin: The Journal of Preservation Technology
• Flood Resilience of Traditional Building Materials: Report of simulated flood immersion according to ASTM E3075 standard procedures, US Army Corps of Engineers

The National Park Service Responds to Climate Change

Other National Park Service Information

• NPS Sustainabilty Website
• Cultural Resources Adaptation
• Testing Treatments for Mitigating Climate-Change Effects on Adobe Structures in the National Parks