Responsible stewards of the built environment are also responsible stewards of the natural environment.  Reduce, reuse, recycle applies not only to bags, bottles, and containers, but also buildings, neighborhoods, and entire communities.

When we lose a historic resource in whole or in part, we waste not only the memory and culture housed in the resource, but also the materials used in the structure, earth the landfill sits upon, and the structure’s embodied energy.

Embodied energy is all the energy consumed by production of a structure:  acquisition of natural resources, component production and delivery, and ongoing maintenance.  Every structure is a complex combination of processed materials – each contributing to total embodied energy.  This energy is different than the operational energy needed to heat, light, and water a resource.  To reduce the waste of embodied energy and its environmental impacts, we continue to use durable and adaptable buildings.