Guidelines - City of Oklahoma City

Preservation Standards AND Guidelines August 1, 2012
fueled by biomass, residual agricultural products, and are energy efficient revisions of traditional wood
-burning stoves. Biomass refers to fuel from plants, versus fossil fuel. The carbon produced in burning
biomass pellets is offset by the carbon dioxide absorbed by the original plant. The actual plant material
comes from remnants of crops that would otherwise be left behind in the harvesting of the main commodity
(corn stalks, for example). Waste from the lumber industry also provides biomass. Thus, the
use of pellets made from these left-overs takes full advantage of resources available. Furthermore, these
resources are renewable. The down side to biomass is that its manufacture competes with other industries
that rely on some of the raw products. Wood pellets, for example are used from the lumber
industry‘s left over sawdust and wood chip, which also are used for particleboard, fiberboard and animal
bedding. This competition can cause an increase in prices, another good reason to support the restriction
of sprawl, so that land can remain in use for agricultural and timber products.
Deconstruction
Deconstruction is the systematic dismantling of a building in an environmentally, socially and economical
manner. The process is a time-consuming and labor-intensive endeavor requiring the separation of
materials, resulting in the recycling of building components. Over the last decade, non-profit and forprofit
groups have been successful in developing this industry, encouraging the enactment of state and
local ordinances, the invention of new tools and equipment and the initiation of tax credits pertaining
to deconstruction.
In the U.S., 95% of homes are wood frame. The average 2,000-square-foot wood-frame home has the
potential to yield 6,000-board-feet of reusable lumber or about 85 percent of the wood framing. That
amount of wood equates to 33 mature pine trees, the annual yield of 10 acres of planted pine. The same
house demolished would add about 127 tons or 10,000 cubic feet of debris to a landfill. For every three
square feet of deconstruction, enough lumber can be salvaged to build one square foot of new construction.
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Aluminum can also be recycled before building demolition. Recovery of aluminum from demolition
and replacement in the building industry is minimal compared to recovery from the consumer goods
sector. Of the estimated 400 million pounds of aluminum potentially available, only 15 to 20 percent is
recovered, according to the National Resources Defense Council. 9
Brick and wood sash windows can be recycled, as can slate from roofs. These salvaged materials from
older buildings can lend an organic quality to new buildings that synthetic siding, vinyl windows and
standard asphalt roof shingles cannot. Though the embodied energy of the deconstructed building is
lost, that of the building components remains, meaning fewer new resources are required.
New Construction
Encouraging the re-use of existing buildings is a priority, but since new construction is inevitable, design
guidelines must also address and promote sustainable practices and materials in new buildings.
Recommendations for new buildings begin with assessing the site and designing the building to maximize
the natural benefits of the existing environment.
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