flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

AIA: Architecture firms reporting progress on achieving carbon reduction targets as part of the 2030 Commitment

Architects

AIA: Architecture firms reporting progress on achieving carbon reduction targets as part of the 2030 Commitment

The AIA 2030 2014 Progress Report highlights an increase in design projects, gross square footage, and net-zero energy projects.


By AIA | October 22, 2015
AIA: Architecture firms reporting progress on achieving carbon reduction targets

Georgia Tech's Carbon-Neutral Energy Solutions Laboratory. Photo courtesy HDR

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has produced a report assessing the work of firms that are part of the AIA 2030 Commitment, a voluntary initiative to commit their practice to advancing the AIA’s goal of carbon-neutral buildings by the year 2030. 

The key findings from the AIA 2030 2014 Progress Report include:

  • 140 firms submitted reports – a 41% increase from 2013
  • 2.4 billion gross square feet (GSF) represented in this data – a 50% increase YoY
  • 4,354 projects have been accounted for in this report – a 78% increase
  • 413 design projects are meeting the 60% carbon reduction target – a 3% increase
  • 197 net-zero energy projects – a 270% increase
  • 22% average firm reduction in Lighting Power Density for interior projects – a increase of 3%
  • 34% average Predicted Energy Use Intensity reduction reported by firms – a decrease of 3%
  • 11% of total GSF meeting the current 60% carbon reduction target – an increase of 4%
  • 53% of total GSF using energy modeling to predict operational energy consumption – a 13% decrease

In order to make data reporting easier the AIA partnered with the Department of Energy to create the AIA 2030 Design Data Exchange (DDx), an online monitoring, reporting and research tool for architecture firms. See user feedback and access the tool here.

The AIA has also partnered with Architecture 2030 and AIA Seattle to launch an educational program aimed at providing AIA members and other design professionals with the high-performance building knowledge necessary to meet the 2030 Challenge targets.

Tags

Related Stories

| Nov 16, 2010

Architecture Billings Index: inquiries for new projects remain extremely high

The new projects inquiry index was 61.7, down slightly from a nearly three-year high mark of 62.3 in September, according to the Architecture Billings Index (ABI). However, the ABI dropped nearly two points in October; the October ABI score was 48.7, down from a reading of 50.4 the previous month. The ABI reflects the approximate nine to 12 month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending.

| Nov 16, 2010

Brazil Olympics spurring green construction

Brazil's green building industry will expand in the coming years, spurred by construction of low-impact venues being built for the 2016 Olympics. The International Olympic Committee requires arenas built for the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro meet international standards for low-carbon emissions and energy efficiency. This has boosted local interest in developing real estate with lower environmental impact than existing buildings. The timing couldn’t be better: the Brazilian government is just beginning its long-term infrastructure expansion program.

| Nov 16, 2010

Green building market grows 50% in two years; Green Outlook 2011 report

The U.S. green building market is up 50% from 2008 to 2010—from $42 billion to $55 billion-$71 billion, according to McGraw-Hill Construction's Green Outlook 2011: Green Trends Driving Growth report. Today, a third of all new nonresidential construction is green; in five years, nonresidential green building activity is expected to triple, representing $120 billion to $145 billion in new construction.

| Nov 16, 2010

Calculating office building performance? Yep, there’s an app for that

123 Zero build is a free tool for calculating the performance of a market-ready carbon-neutral office building design. The app estimates the discounted payback for constructing a zero emissions office building in any U.S. location, including the investment needed for photovoltaics to offset annual carbon emissions, payback calculations, estimated first costs for a highly energy efficient building, photovoltaic costs, discount rates, and user-specified fuel escalation rates.

| Nov 16, 2010

CityCenter’s new Harmon Hotel targeted for demolition

MGM Resorts officials want to demolish the unopened 27-story Harmon Hotel—one of the main components of its brand new $8.5 billion CityCenter development in Las Vegas. In 2008, inspectors found structural work on the Harmon didn’t match building plans submitted to the county, with construction issues focused on improperly placed steel reinforcing bar. In January 2009, MGM scrapped the building’s 200 condo units on the upper floors and stopped the tower at 27 stories, focusing on the Harmon having just 400 hotel rooms. With the Lord Norman Foster-designed building mired in litigation, construction has since been halted on the interior, and the blue-glass tower is essentially a 27-story empty shell.

| Nov 16, 2010

Where can your firm beat the recession? Try any of these 10 places

Wondering where condos and rental apartments will be needed? Where companies are looking to rent office space? Where people will need hotel rooms, retail stores, and restaurants? Newsweek compiled a list of the 10 American cities best situated for economic recovery. The cities fall into three basic groups: Texas, the New Silicon Valleys, and the Heartland Honeys. Welcome to the recovery.

| Nov 16, 2010

Landscape architecture challenges Andrés Duany’s Congress for New Urbanism

Andrés Duany, founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism, adopted the ideas, vision,  and values of the early 20th Century landscape architects/planners John Nolen and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., to launch a movement that led to more than 300 new towns, regional plans, and community revitalization project commissions for his firm. However, now that there’s a societal buyer’s remorse about New Urbanism, Duany is coming up against a movement that sees landscape architecture—not architecture—as the design medium more capable of organizing the city and enhancing the urban experience.

| Nov 16, 2010

Just for fun: Words that architects use

If you regularly use such words as juxtaposition, folly, truncated, and articulation, you may be an architect. Architects tend to use words rarely uttered during normal conversations. In fact, 62% of all the words that come out of an architects mouth could be replaced by a simpler and more widely known word, according to this “report.” Review this list of designer words, and once you manage to work them into daily conversation, you’re on your way to becoming a bonafide architect.

| Nov 16, 2010

NFRC approves technical procedures for attachment product ratings

The NFRC Board of Directors has approved technical procedures for the development of U-factor, solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC), and visible transmittance (VT) ratings for co-planar interior and exterior attachment products. The new procedures, approved by unanimous voice vote last week at NFRC’s Fall Membership Meeting in San Francisco, will add co-planar attachments such as blinds and shades to the group’s existing portfolio of windows, doors, skylights, curtain walls, and window film.

| Nov 15, 2010

Gilbane to acquire W.G. Mills, Inc.

Rhode Island-based Gilbane Building Company announced plans to acquire W.G. Mills, Inc., a construction management firm with operations based in Florida. The acquisition will dramatically strengthen Gilbane’s position in Florida’s growing market and complement its already established presence in the southeast.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category


Museums

The Tampa Museum of Art will soon undergo a $110 million expansion

In Tampa, Fla., the Tampa Museum of Art will soon undergo a 77,904-sf Centennial Expansion project. The museum plans to reach its $110 million fundraising goal by late 2024 or early 2025 and then break ground. Designed by Weiss/Manfredi, and with construction manager The Beck Group, the expansion will redefine the museum’s surrounding site.



Reconstruction & Renovation

Movement to protect historic buildings raises sharp criticism

While the movement to preserve historic buildings has widespread support, it also has some sharp critics with well-funded opposition groups springing up in recent years. Some opponents are linked to the Stand Together Foundation, founded and bankrolled by the Koch family’s conservative philanthropic organization, according to a column in Governing magazine.

halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021