Old Houses Better Kept Than Knocked Down

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Picked up this interesting article from the May 4th edition of Time magazine.

Greening This Old House

Time Excerpt:
...it would take an average of 65 years for the reduced carbon emissions from a new energy-efficient home to make up for the resources lost by demolishing an old one. So in the broadest sense, the greenest home is the one that has already been built.

In Janesville, the city administration and their academic followers are big on tearing down anything older than 40 years old if they have the chance. We have an indoor ice arena that's 35 years old and some folks around here talk about it like it's an old shipwreck. Even the private investment hockey group who couldn't wait to get in and use it, lowballed the structure as a decrepit "old barn." Then there's the Jackson Street Bridge, worthy of being the subject in a Monet and still structually sound, is now basically condemned by its neglectful owner as a non-conforming old relic left to wither away and die like an unwanted old dog. For shame.

The same can be said for the Tallman House. During relatively good economic times, maintenance and restoration funding for this treasured asset was decided by city councils playing whack-a-mole with city operations and services expenditures like mowing the grass and weed control. "Knock it down" is the frequent response from those who just don't care.

Even the casual observer can see the city doesn't take care of its stuff.