The 8708 Sustainable Preservation Project
In Philadelphia, 72% of carbon emissions come from buildings.
Retrofitting and reusing existing buildings is our biggest opportunity to fight climate change and reduce carbon production. But how can you improve energy impact and building efficiency without diminishing architectural character?
This Green Old House is a project for you. With your support, the Conservancy will undertake and publicly demonstrate the process to reduce a building’s carbon footprint in architecturally sensitive ways, using the Conservancy’s 164-year-old Headquarters at 8708 Germantown Avenue (a former residence). We’re proud to launch this new initiative to help you, our neighbors and homeowners, to sensitively (and practically!) live more sustainably. The Project is an extension of the Conservancy’s role as stewards and advocates for the community and environment and dramatically advances our mission work in preservation and conservation.
In our full vision for the project, we will:
- Retrofit the Chestnut Hill Conservancy’s Headquarters to improve building efficiency with current technologies for sustainable, historically sensitive adaptations
- Transform the building into a living exhibit of sustainable preservation best practices, providing specific actionable steps that individual owners can take
- Reframe preservation’s role as critical to conservation and climate change efforts through use of our building as a case study
Contact us to learn more about this Initiative at info@chconservancy.org
Your contribution now enables our necessary first steps:
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- Full sustainability evaluation by experts in sustainability and historic architecture
- Prioritized recommendations for historically sensitive energy efficiency retrofits
- Space planning to support a growing Archive, establish a publicly accessible Resource Center of best practices, and house ongoing Conservancy operations
- Sharing this work in real time with engaging outreach and practical how-to guides