Restoring an historic home can easily include green technology without losing the original character of the old house.

Architect David Sharff has a great love of New England’s history and our historic homes, and restoring old homes is a major part of his practice.

In Macon, Georgia, a recent project gives great encouragement to anyone who wants to see old homes brought up to date while preserving the past.

Historic Macon, a foundation that restores old homes and then sells them to the public, is showing off its latest restoration in an old neighborhood of the Georgia town. The restoration specialists were determined to make this a “green” restoration.

“We wanted to demonstrate that you could have an historic house and make it (energy) efficient without it having to cost an arm and a leg,” said Josh Rogers, the executive director of Historic Macon, quoted in Macon.com.

The house on Macon’s Orange St. was built in the 1880s, had fallen on hard times, and had been vacant for several years when the foundation purchased it.

The home features:

• An ulta-efficient HVAC system
• An ultra-efficient hot water heater
• A pervious surfaced driveway
• Spray-foam insulation over the plaster
• Limited construction waste & debris
• Low Flow plumbing fixtures

“We thought it was a huge risk to try to restore a house this size in this market,” he said. “But we felt the need to take a leadership role and show it could get done, get done green and get done on time,” said Rogers.

Read more about the restoration at Macon.com and the website for Historic Macon.