Autodesk, Inc., and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) have announced the results of the 2008 Autodesk/AIA Green Index, an annual survey that measures how AIA members are practicing sustainable design, as well as their opinions about the green building movement. The full Autodesk/AIA Green Index report is available at http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=15039154&siteID=123112.
A major finding of the 2008 Green Index was that 42 percent of architects report clients asking for green building elements on a majority of their projects, with 47 percent of clients actually implementing green building elements on their projects, an increase of 15 percent from 2007. Client demand remains the leading driver for green building, with 66 percent of surveyed architects citing client demand as the primary influence on their practice of green building market.
In response to the rising client demand for green buildings, architects are increasing their use of certain sustainable design practices. According to the survey, 34 percent of architects are now implementing green or vegetated roof coverings on more than half of their new projects, compared with 7 percent of architects in 2007. Also, 39 percent are using renewable, on-site energy sources, such as solar, wind, geothermal, low-impact hydro, biomass or bio-gas on over half of new building designs, compared with just 6 percent last year. Architects indicated a significant increase in their use of design software over the past year to help predict and evaluate HVAC operating costs (39 percent, up from 31 percent in 2007), conduct energy modeling and baseline analysis (33 percent, up from 29 percent in 2007) and evaluate and explore alternative building materials (35 percent, up from 20 percent in 2007).
