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> Right now 100 years old houses already exist and can be restored/upgraded with a minimal amount of work (in terms of energy and emissions). Having lived in o

> Right now 100 years old houses already exist and can be restored/upgraded with a minimal amount of work (in terms of energy and emissions). Having lived in one, I can assure you that upgrading such a house to modern energy standards isn't a minimal amount of work. Lots of these houses just have a single brick wall directly facing the outdoors. Insulating that means you have to basically completely strip the house down to the brick, and even then it won't be as good as new construction. Of course demolishing and rebuilding also takes energy; but if you amortize it over 50 years or so, I bet in the end you come out ahead. Building technology has improved a lot in energy efficiency over the last century.

PeterisP 4y ago
> Insulating that means you have to basically completely strip the house down to the brick No, insulating that means that you add an extra set of layers to the outside of that brick wall, which can done without impacting the interior while the people are living in that building during the renovation.
- tatersolid 4y ago
  > while the people are living in that building during the renovation You’ve never actually done this I assume? I have lived in a 1920s house during renovation. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Should have torn it down; would have been better for the environment and my pocketbook.
  - trashtester 4y ago
    > You’ve never actually done this I assume? I have, and there was a lot of drilling into concrete filled with tiny stones, that caused enough noise to cause pain in the ears. Only during working hours, though. > would have been better for the environment and my pocketbook. If you don't want to live in a building as it is being renovated, you can always rent something else for the time it takes. If the renovation takes less time than rebuilding, you also pay less rent.
    - tatersolid 4y ago
      My point was that the old house is still very energy inefficient compared with new construction. The rehab process was also very energy intensive and created nearly as much waste as a tear-down. The beautiful hand-carved crown moulding and stairs are nice, but not worth outrageous heating bills.

PeterisP 4y ago

> Insulating that means you have to basically completely strip the house down to the brick No, insulating that means that you add an extra set of layers to the outside of that brick wall, which can done without impacting the interior while the people are living in that building during the renovation.

tatersolid 4y ago
> while the people are living in that building during the renovation You’ve never actually done this I assume? I have lived in a 1920s house during renovation. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Should have torn it down; would have been better for the environment and my pocketbook.
- trashtester 4y ago
  > You’ve never actually done this I assume? I have, and there was a lot of drilling into concrete filled with tiny stones, that caused enough noise to cause pain in the ears. Only during working hours, though. > would have been better for the environment and my pocketbook. If you don't want to live in a building as it is being renovated, you can always rent something else for the time it takes. If the renovation takes less time than rebuilding, you also pay less rent.
  - tatersolid 4y ago
    My point was that the old house is still very energy inefficient compared with new construction. The rehab process was also very energy intensive and created nearly as much waste as a tear-down. The beautiful hand-carved crown moulding and stairs are nice, but not worth outrageous heating bills.