The Sierra Club, Washington DC Chapter today issued the following statement in support of the American Geophysical Union's proposed renovation, which would use advanced solar and geothermal technology to make it the first net-zero energy building in the District.
The Washington, DC Chapter of the Sierra Club supports the proposal by the American Geophysical Union to renovate its building, which is located within the Dupont Circle Historic District, to a "net zero energy" standard that requires the use of extensive solar photovoltaic panels. We urge the District of Columbia Historic Preservation Review Board to recognize that the crisis of global warming demands engaging with, rather than flatly rejecting, architectural solutions that embrace advanced technologies that will preserve both our global future and our local past.
Global warming poses a grave and imminent threat to not only humanity's future, but to our shared past as well. In a recent issue of Preservation magazine, National Trust for Historic Preservation president Stephanie Meeks wrote that "as preservationists, it is incumbent on us to reckon with climate change bravely." If left unchecked, the higher sea levels caused by global warming threaten the very existence of countless historic structures within the District of Columbia, including a great many of the surviving structures from its earliest days. For example, the original cornerstone of the District of Columbia (at Jones Point in Alexandria) was originally constructed on dry ground -- but now sits below today's sea level, hidden by an obtrusive concrete seawall and visible only through a protective cover. From the Jefferson Memorial to Randall School, Mayfair Mansions to Tingey House, global warming could very well obliterate scores of DC landmarks.
Not only is it a moral imperative to address global warming through advanced technology, but increasingly it is a legal obligation as well. The District's government signed into law the Sustainable DC Plan in 2013, a plan which incorporates the goals of Architecture 2030 -- a global movement by professionals in the built environment to address the global warming emergency by quickly adopting advanced energy technologies and standards so that every single new and renovated building will be net zero energy by 2030. Achieving that goal by 2030, a mere 14 years from now, will require much faster and wider-scale adoption of advanced technologies today -- yet, as of yet, no buildings in DC have taken that initiative. The AGU should be commended, rather than criticized, for taking that step.