Recent news has focused on the renovation and restoration efforts being undertaken in downtown Dubuque for the Silver Dollar, the condos at Cathedral Square, and the Sustainable Land Development International expansion in the old Caradco Building in Dubuque’s Warehouse District. These projects deserve our attention alongside the earlier restoration of John Gronen’s apartments on Main Street and at the former Dubuque Casket Company.  Richard Moe, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, would call their efforts “sustainable stewardship.”  Parts of his December speech are being shared for their timeliness and meaning to the future focus of our city.

Moe says, “Because it necessarily involves the conservation of energy and natural resources, historic preservation has always been “the greenest of the building arts.”  It’s all about sustainability. Up until now, our approach to life on this planet has been based on the assumption that “there’s plenty more where that came from.”  With our environment in crisis, we have to face the fact that there may not be plenty more of anything…except trouble.  We are challenged to find a way of living that will ensure the longevity and health of our environmental, economic and social resources. The “we” is us and the need is clearly urgent.

Preservation is the ultimate recycling.  Preservation by its very nature is sustainability.  
The retention and reuse of older buildings is an effective tool for the responsible and sustainable stewardship of our environmental resources.

The concept is this: Buildings are vast repositories of energy.  It takes energy to manufacture or extract building materials, more energy to transport them to a construction site, still more energy to assemble them into a building.  All of that energy is embodied in the final structure -- and, if the structure is demolished and land filled, the energy locked up in it is totally wasted.  What’s more, the process of demolition itself uses more energy – and of course the construction of a new building in its place uses more yet.

It all comes down to a simple fact:  We can’t build our way out of the global warming crises.  We have to conserve our way out.  That means we need to make better, wiser use of what we have already built. No matter how much green technology is employed in its design and construction, any new building represents a new impact on the environment.  The bottom line is the greenest building is the one that already exists.

The marketplace offers a wide range of products that can help make older buildings even more energy efficient without compromising the historic character that makes them unique and appealing.  It makes no sense to recycle newsprint, bottles and cans while we’re throwing away entire buildings.”

Preservation has sustained Dubuque for 175 years, and its benefits can be further enhanced by employing green technology in the reuse and rehabilitation of historic structures into the future. It will ensure that our irreplaceable resources are enjoyed by future generations … and planning for the future is the very essence of sustainability.