About Preservation Green Lab
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, through its Preservation Green Lab, strengthens the fabric of communities by leveraging the value of existing buildings to reduce resource waste, create jobs, and bolster a strong sense of community. The Preservation Green Lab integrates sustainability with historic preservation by developing research, demonstration projects and policies that decrease demolition and promote building reuse. Guided by a belief that historic preservation is essential to sustainable development, the Preservation Green Lab works with partners to create new pathways to shared prosperity and bring people together around a common vision for their neighborhoods, towns and cities.
Despite the fact that 95 percent of the United State’s existing commercial buildings (by number) are smaller than 50,000 square feet (accounting for 50 percent of floor space and 44 percent of energy usage in all commercial buildings), many in the real estate and green building industry tend to focus on the greening of much larger structures. Through programs, research, and demonstration projects, the Green Lab is making building reuse and retrofit of older buildings easier – especially smaller commercial, mixed-use, and multifamily buildings that are typically overlooked by the current retrofit market.
As a department of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, with staff in Seattle, Denver, and Los Angeles, the Green Lab is proud to work closely with local, state and national partners to develop innovative content and strategic partnerships that are crucial to advancing our research and policy work.
Want to learn more? Watch a short video about the Green Lab.