For the first time, historic tax credit projects are eligible for the Developments of Distinction Awards, sponsored by the Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits. The awards recognize outstanding tax credit projects that were placed in service in 2009/2010; had a meaningful and major impact on their community; demonstrated financial innovation; or have overcome significant obstacles in their development. A panel of judges with expertise in the various tax credit industry sectors will review all entries. Winning developments will be featured in the Journal of Tax Credits. Nominations are open to the public and will be accepted online until September 15. More information and the nomination form are available at www.historictaxcredits.com.

Dovetail Construction Company converted a 19th century railway car barn into a net-zero building using historic, solar and geothermal tax credits. Through the installation of solar arrays and two geothermal heat pumps, the company’s new headquarters produces more energy than it consumes. To maintain the Richmond and Chesapeake Bay Railway Car Barn’s historic integrity, the company constructed a building within a building, replacing the historic exterior with nearly identical materials, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Buildings constructed prior to the 1920s are nearly as energy efficient as new construction, a study examining historic preservation’s role in creating green buildings found. Over-the Rhine Foundation’s “Over-the-Rhine Green-Historic Study: Exploring the Intersection Between Environmental Sustainability and Historic Preservation,” combined a cross-section of professionals to determine whether four historic buildings in Cincinnati, Ohio’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood could be designed cost-effectively and meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. Among other findings, the report concluded that all four projects could be cost effective in meeting LEED certification standards. It also found that bringing an interdisciplinary team together at the project’s onset reduced costs. The researchers identified far fewer conflicts between green and historic than they had assumed at the onset. Based on the findings, the report recommends the creation of a green-historic state tax credit program to incentivize rebuilding existing infrastructure, and the expansion of the federal historic tax credit to include condo conversion projects and owner-occupied rehabilitation projects. Grants from the U.S. Department of the Interior Historic Preservation Fund and Duke Energy funded the study. Download a copy of the full report online at www.otrfoundation.org.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation launched a historic real estate section on its web site in July. The new area connects visitors to related National Trust content on historic homes, such as weatherization tips and other resources for historic home owners. Realtors are now able to customize advertising, including unlimited descriptive copy, photos and video capabilities, to sell residential and commercial properties that are more than 50 years old or historically significant. Other available features include maps, local school reports, the ability to track visitors to each property listing and multiple data fields for refining user searches. The real estate addition is part of the National Trust’s larger strategy to provide an online resource center for networking and sharing information about historic places. Visit www.historicrealestate.preservation.org for more details. The National Trust also announced that in an effort to decrease site downtime and improve security that it moved its blog to a new hosting service in August. Users are encouraged to update bookmarks to reflect the National Trust’s new web address, http://blog.preservationnation.org.

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