Staff Contributors
Guest Contributors

LEED score and seven years ago

Abe Lincoln's summer home goes green

Posted by Sarah van Schagen at 10:58 AM on 12 Feb 2008

Lincoln's summer cottage

Does this building look LEED certified to you? Well, look again. This is part of Abe Lincoln's summer home complex near Washington, D.C., and after a seven-year restoration, it's the first-ever historic monument to receive the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation rehabilitated the historic building in a way that minimized adverse environmental impact. This meant restoring as much of the existing fabric of a building as possible, rather than generating new materials and sending the existing materials to a landfill. It also meant updating systems to make them more energy efficient, monitoring indoor environmental quality, and improving storm water management. Securing LEED certification for this building is just one aspect of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's broader initiative to help decision makers, developers, homeowners and others appreciate how historic preservation can contribute to sustainable design.

The site, which includes a visitor education center in an adjacent historical building, will be open to the public beginning Feb. 19.

Congrats on the LEED thing, Abe, and happy birthday, old man!

Log Cabin Loser


If Lincoln's family hadn't logged those trees for his birthplace...well, who knows!   We might be short one great President, but there would be a micron less of greenhouse gas.

Texeme.Construct(function(x)=Participation(x))
Correction

adjacent Robert H. Smith Visitor Education Center is the building that was LEED certified.

Correction

It may not look LEED certified because it isn't. The adjacent Robert H. Smith Visitor Education Center is the building that was LEED certified.

You are not logged in. Thus, you cannot post a comment. If you have an account, log in. If you don't have an account, well, by all means go make one! Meet you back here in five.
sign in
Search Gristmill
Subscribe
  • subscribe via RSSStay updated with the Gristmill RSS feed.
  • Add to My Yahoo!
  • Subscribe with Bloglines
  • Subscribe in NewsGator Online
  • Subscribe in Netvibes
  • Subscribe in Google
Using Gristmill
  • What is Gristmill?
  • Posting rules
The comments of Gristmill users reflect the opinions of those individuals only, and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of Grist, its staff, its board members, their psychotherapists, or their aestheticians. Got it?

Gristmill is powered by Scoop.

ADVERTISING POLICY


About Grist | Support Grist | Job Board | Archives | Grist by Email | RSS | Podcast
Gristmill Blog | In the News | Ask Umbra | Muckraker | Victual Reality | 'Tis the Season | The Grist List | The Bottom Line



Grist: Environmental News and Commentary
a beacon in the smog (tm) ©2008. Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Gloom and doom with a sense of humor®.
Webmaster | Sitemap | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Trademarks