SARPA's Position on Solar Technology

SARPA Whitepaper on Solar Energy Modifications
As adopted by the SARPA board on 16 January, 2012

SARPA (the Summit Avenue Residential Preservation Association) is dedicated to the preservation of the historic, residential, and urban park character of Summit Avenue. SARPA was commissioned in 1986 by Mayor George Latimer and the St. Paul City Council to preserve the residential quality of Summit Avenue for future generations.

A recent focus of SARPA has been to promote and encourage the fact that SARPA, while being an important historic resource, is also a street of unusual diversity. Many different kinds of people live along the street, from young to old, families to single residents, owners to renters. It’s also a street with myriad uses, from single family homes to multiple units, churches, synagogues, schools, reception houses, the Governor’s Mansion, a historic house museum, and several parks and open spaces. As such, SARPA is mainly concerned with the quality of life for all who live on — and who use — the street, and this concern is generally prioritized over individual situations.

With its interest in the diversity of historic resources, SARPA has been especially interested in the confluence of historic preservation and “green building,” particularly recent National Trust endeavors (please see source list at the end of this document). We support the Trust’s assertion that “the greenest building is the one that is already built” in that historic preservation is the “original” green building by retaining existing resources. We also support the combination of historic preservation and energy efficiency tax credits.

While energy conservation methods such as passive solar methods and geothermal wells are more or less invisible post-construction, private solar panels cause a different set of problems, enough so that they are specifically addressed in 2011 amendments to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. These amendments are as follows:

The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation & Illustrated Guidelines on Sustainability for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings (2011)
Solar Technology
Recommended:
• Considering on-site, solar technology only after implementing all appropriate treatments to improve energy efficiency of the building, which often have greater life-cycle cost benefit than on-site renewable energy.
• Analyzing whether solar technology can be used successfully and will benefit a historic building without compromising its character or the character of the site or the surrounding historic district.
• Installing a solar device in a compatible location on the site or on a non-historic building or addition where it will have minimal impact on the historic building and its site.
• Installing a solar device on the historic building only after other locations have been investigated and determined infeasible.
• Installing a low-profile solar device on the historic building so that it is not visible or only minimally visible from the public right of way: for example, on a flat roof and set back to take advantage of a parapet or other roof feature to screen solar panels from view; or on a secondary slope of a roof, out of view from the public right of way.
• Installing a solar device on the historic building in a manner that does not damage historic roofing material or negatively impact the building’s historic character and is reversible.
• Installing solar roof panels horizontally – flat or parallel to the roof – to reduce visibility.

Not Recommended:
• Installing on-site, solar technology without first implementing all appropriate treatments to the building to improve its energy efficiency.
• Installing a solar device without first analyzing its potential benefit or whether it will negatively impact the character of the historic building or site or the surrounding historic district.
• Placing a solar device in a highly-visible location where it will negatively impact the historic building and its site.
• Installing a solar device on the historic building without first considering other locations.
• Installing a solar device in a prominent location on the building where it will negatively impact its historic character.
• Installing a solar device on the historic building in a manner that damages historic roofing material or replaces it with an incompatible material and is not reversible.
• Removing historic roof features to install solar panels.
• Altering a historic, character-defining roof slope to install solar panels.
• Installing solar devices that are not reversible.
• Placing solar roof panels vertically where they are highly visible and will negatively impact the historic character of the building.

SARPA’s policies have aligned with the Secretary’s Standards in the past, and our position on solar technology is no different. In general, and in keeping with its position of prioritizing the character of the district as a whole over individual instances, SARPA shall not support solar technology alterations that do not conform to these standards.

In general, that means that solar technology use on Summit shall be implemented only after other methods have been exhausted, and that such alterations shall be unobtrusive and reversible. SARPA encourages Summit Avenue homeowners to investigate a wide spectrum of energy conservation options to best preserve the quality and character of their home and of the street in general.

Sources:
- Historic Preservation and Green Building: A Lasting Relationship (http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/sustainability/additional-resources/HPandGreenBuildingArticle.pdf)
- Sustainable Stewardship (http://berkeleyheritage.com/speeches/richard_moe.html)
- Historic Preservation and Sustainable Architecture: Friend or Foes? (http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2009/05/historic-preservation-and-green-architecture-friends-of-foes-.html)