Green Restorations is a truly excellent guide for anyone considering preserving and/or "greening" their existing home. Author Aaron Lubeck puts his significant command of both subjects right into the hands of readers in a wonderfully accessible, well-organized and informative volume. This book fills an important void in the marketplace of books about the restoration of the charming older residences that fill our inner ring suburbs and cities. It will be an invaluable resource to anyone involved in improving the long term viability of our nation’s aging housing stock. These improvements can only happen one house at a time, and Lubeck makes this potentially confusing subject straightforward and logical — an amazing accomplishment.
Sarah Susanka, FAIA, architect,and author of The Not So Big House series and The Not So Big Life
Green Restorations should be on the bookshelves of at least four groups: owners of historic homes; contractors who work on historic homes; preservationists who need to be better able to explain energy conservation options to owners of historic properties and architects who are willing to learn from someone who actually hangs doors and installs flooring.
Donovan Rypkema, Principal, PlaceEconomics and author of The Economics of Historic Preservation
Green Restorations is an incredibly useful tool for helping owners of older homes get the energy-efficiency they want without sacrificing the historic character they love.
Dwight Young, National Trust for Historic Preservation and author of Alternatives to Sprawl, Road Trips Through History, Saving America’s Treasures, the bestselling Dear Mr. President, and the "Back Page" feature in Preservation magazine.
[This] book will guide old-house owners and others toward how they can be truly respectful of the environment. No silly bells and whistles that will end up in the landfill — just good solid information. It’s a must-have resource for anyone who owns an old home — or wants to restore one.
Myrick Howard, executive director of Preservation North Carolina and author of Buying Time for Heritage
It serves as a much-needed reminder, at a time when experimental new green buildings are getting disproportionate attention, that the first goal of sustainability is to care for the sustainable treasures we already have.
Michael Mehaffy, Chair, USA Chapter, International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism (INTBAU)
I highly recommend Green Restorations to all those involved in the practice and advocacy of building rehabilitation as a means to achieving sustainability and, especially, to those unfamiliar with or even dismissive of the idea.
Robert A. Young, PE, FAPT, LEED-AP, author of Historic Preservation Technology
If you are thinking about restoring a house, or improving the efficiency of the house for environmental and financial reasons, this book is a must-read.
Todd Ballenger, CLA, NIFEd, author of Borrow Smart, Retire Rich
Truly a first of its kind, Green Restorations is a straightforward guide for anyone interested in historic homes with the green design choice in mind. Author Aaron Lubeck shares his firsthand experience while providing the compelling environmental argument for preservation. Our homes can be inspired and energy efficient, with renewable materials and smart energy use achieving a living example of sustainability in action.
Quayle Hodek, CEO and Founder, Renewable Choice Energy
Clearly and concisely Aaron lays out a solid foundation for their relationship, mutual values, shared interests and physical attributes, then shows us how the world of design would benefit from their marriage.
Gwyn Ronsick, Gwyn Ronsick Designs
With Aaron’s insightful, detail by detail, guidance within this encouraging/confidence-building source book, everyone now becomes "experienced" and formidable projects become clear, step by step, and manageable. With Green Restorations help our efforts toward heritage preservation for a sustainable life style can now touch anyone’s home.
Eddie Belk, AIA/LEED AP, preservation architect/speaker
Aaron Lubeck has created a book that makes us smarter about how to preserve America's historic homes. He demonstrates that green can (and should!) be a natural component of historic preservation.
Bob Kingery, Co-founder, Southern Energy Management
Never have two subjects been so compatible in their broad objectives of preserving what is beautiful in the world and making the most out of our valuable natural resources, but so hard to integrate in the particular. Green Restorations provides an excellent starting point for anyone wishing to bridge this woeful and unnecessary gap, and get started turning our most beloved architecture into our most sustainable.
Stephen and Rebekah Hren, authors of The Carbon-Free Home
This book for the first time puts it all together, marrying the theory and practices of both preservation and sustainability in a methodology that is technical enough to guide architects and contractors, and is easily accessible for the owner of a vintage home considering upgrades to whole house restorations. Finally!
David Maurer, AIA, LEED-AP, Maurer Architecture / TightLines Designs, Inc.
