I’ll wager that if you live in downtown Boston, you subscribe to the Prince Charles approach to a green environment.
“Why,” wrote the heir to the British throne, “does being ‘green’ mean building with glass and steel and concrete and then adding wind turbines, solar panels and water-heaters, sedum roofs, glass atria—all the paraphernalia of a new ‘green building industry’—to offset buildings that are inefficient in the first place? . . . traditional homes—from the humblest to the grandest—were built to conserve as much precious fuel as possible, through solid walls, windows in the right places and of the right size, sounder foundations, stronger roof trusses, stouter doors, and, most important, an ability to change, making them adaptable from generation to generation.”
You probably didn’t realize the approach you shared with the prince had so many words in it, but nevertheless, he hit upon the reason downtown Boston is so green.
Our living spaces are old and properly built, just like Prince Charles’s favorites. Re-using an old building is a good way to reduce your carbon footprint, said Jacob Knowles, a senior project manager at Nexus, a non-profit green building organization. You’re not cutting down trees or requiring an 18-wheeler to transport the new materials.
Plus, your brick house, already more than 150 years old, is likely to last another 150 years with good care. Knowles said most new houses are not built for longevity. You’re already way ahead by virtue of those bricks that were piled on top of one another in the 19th century. Knowles also likes the heavy plaster that with the brick creates a solid “thermal mass,” so don’t’ remove it.
Our old houses have built-in benefits besides their age and materials. One is that they are row-houses, sharing walls on either side. Those who live in multi-family housing share floors and ceilings. Windows, which raise the carbon footprint, are located only in the front and back. The dearth of windows might mean we have less light in our houses, but Knowles said compensating for that requires comparatively little energy.
Knowles had one criticism of our houses. Too many are inefficient. The furnaces and appliances are old. The windows haven’t been tightened. The toilets may still have the old large tanks of water that are so wasteful. The walls are not insulated. You have to look only at the many poorly kept rental buildings on the Hill to imagine how leaky and inefficient they are. If the landlord doesn’t paint the doors and windows more than once every 30 years, why would he keep up other aspects of the building?
Downtown single-family homes that haven’t been treated to new equipment are inefficient too. Knowles said he compared a 3,500 square foot single-family house with four occupied stories and a basement to a comparably priced house in the suburbs. The downtown rowhouse would perform worse than a newly built 6,200 square-foot “Double McMansion,” whatever that is. With full upgrades, however, the row house would perform considerably better because of its smaller outdoor surface area.
Another item on which we score high is in transportation, said Knowles. It’s not just that downtown Bostonians walk or take public transportation instead of driving cars. It’s that we live in a seaport. The more goods we get by boat rather than by truck, the less energy is consumed. So we’re all greener than if we lived in a city like Indianapolis.
Knowles gave a talk on this subject last September at a meeting about saving energy that was sponsored by the Beacon Hill Civic Association. He and others will address the same subject on May 10 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. at the Lyric Stage at 140 Clarendon Street in the Back Bay when the Ellis Neighborhood Association in the South End sponsors the program.
You’ll be happy to know that Prince Charles recently refurbished Llwynywermod, his farm in Wales, reusing materials or sourcing them locally. His garden there is organic, and he breeds rare livestock native to the UK. Apparently, the prince lets common folk stay at his farm for the bargain price of 800 pounds a week for six people. Prince Charles won’t be there when you go, but you’ll be happy to know you and he share an opinion as to green living.