Historic green

The Historic Preservation ad Restoration Club was created by students at College of the Redwoods last fall. Our goals were and are to market and share our program, to educate ourselves and others on the field of and techniques in preservation and to raise funds to help members continue their education through outside opportunities and training. Historic Green is one such opportunity. Historic Green is a non- profit working in the Holy Cross community of the lower ninth ward in New Orleans. They specialize in “sustainable preservation,” meaning they are dedicated to restoring historic buildings damaged by Hurricane Katrina and neglect using green building practices.

We leave March 13th for NOLA!!!

Check out Historic Green's Blog at http://blog.historicgreen.org/. Two of Historic Green's founders are featured in a article in Preservation Magizine this month. (article below via http://www.preservationnation.org/)

By Lindsey M. Roberts

Ryan Evans, 32, and Jeremy Knoll, 28, worked in Kansas—three states and 300 miles away from Louisiana. But when the friends learned that residents of New Orleans' Holy Cross neighborhood wanted to turn their storm-battered enclave into the nation's first carbon-neutral community, they saw an opportunity. In 2008, Evans, a mechanical engineer, and Knoll, an architect, took 350 volunteers to historic Holy Cross to restore and green homes. Their sustainable preservation efforts proved so successful that they incorporated a nonprofit called Historic Green, which helps dozens of neighbors retrofit their residences and save on energy bills each year. Historic Green volunteers also refurbish old windows, teach restoration techniques, and install innovative vapor barriers that inhibit the growth of mold. Knoll says residents can now afford to maintain energy-­efficient homes—and pass them along to their kids: "They're no longer priced out of their own neighborhood." Both entrepreneurs hope that communities around the world will benefit from their success. "Our model isn't being repeated anywhere on this scale," Evans says. "We hope to change that."