The Cold North: How “green” is new construction versus rehab of old houses? – GreenBuildingAdvisor

It seems to come up all the time as freezing temps dominate our northern winters.

Is energy efficient new construction really “green” compared to deep energy retrofits to old housing stock? And, does it really make financial sense to build at today’s prices versus rehabbing houses that have stood strong for 100 or more years?

Having spent most of my working life in the trades (in the north), I am more convinced every year that the best bet is to rehab old houses.

Really, how green can building new be relative to rehabbing old? It just seems like the embodied energy cost to build anything new is always going to be magnitudes more than rehabbing what was built many years ago with relatively little embodied energy.

I put my own money to the test twice now, and both times I have come away from gut rehabs of 100+ year old houses convinced that new builds would have left me house rich and cash poor for the remainder of my time on this rock.