In February 2012 the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Preservation Green Lab released The Greenest Building: Quantifying the Environmental Value of Building Reuse. This report marks the first of its kind in the United States to compare the environmental consequences of reusing and retrofitting an existing building for energy efficiency versus building new. The findings make a compelling case that the preservation, retrofit, and reuse of a historic building is almost always a more environmentally sustainable option than new construction. This white paper is designed to help preservation professionals and advocates use the data contained within the report to advance their own efforts to save historic places. In it you will find: