Industry leaders address the past, present and future of green building issues.
In our 150th year, the American Institute of Architects has had the opportunity to look back on the profession’s accomplishments in shaping this nation. More importantly, our 80,000 members have taken a look forward to consider how we can — how we must — re-shape the way humans inhabit the planet.
The AIA Board in 2005 took aggressive positions on sustainable design that acknowledged the profession’s obligation to future generations. One position details what we aspire to achieve in our offices, our projects and our communities to create a more sustainable future. The other defines what the profession desires in standards that guide sustainable design work. If you’ve not read them, I encourage you to visit aia.org to do so. I hope they inspire you to raise the level of your work in response to the challenge we face to make the built environment the solution, rather than the largest contributor, to climate change.
And raise our work is what we must do. As Nobel Peace Prize winner and Oscar winner, former Vice President Al Gore told us at our National Convention last May, this is the time for architects to step forward, applying our skills, knowledge, and vision to change the way we design our cities, building the places we live, work and play. To support the AIA’s members in this task, the institute is:
- Developing tools, such as our 50to50 list of strategies to reduce energy use that will become available in the next months.
- Bringing our message to the clients and the public.
- Speaking at conferences such as Discover Brilliant, West Coast Green and EE Global.
Influencing public policy at all levels of government is a significant part of the AIA’s efforts, a strategy that is having real impacts. Recently, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National Association of Counties adopted positions on sustainable design, citing the AIA’s position in their rationale. The investment of time in government advocacy to advance an agenda important to the profession and public alike has led to rich collaboration, including a toolkit for use by policy makers in making their community more energy efficient.
The AIA has been active on Capitol Hill, delivering congressional testimony and providing information to elected representatives and agencies to achieve legislation and policies that enable architects’ skills and knowledge to be fully engaged in addressing what representatives on both sides of the aisle have identified as a national priority. The energy bills passed by the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate earlier this year included carbon neutral federal buildings and renovations by 2030, an extension of the Energy Efficient Commercial Building Tax Deduction to 2013, construction of a demonstration photovoltaic project at the Department of Energy, and creation of the Zero-Energy Commercial Buildings Initiative — all initiatives advocated by the AIA. Nor has the AIA been content to rest on the achievements of the past year. With an eye on the rest of the current legislative session and the prospect of the 2008 election, the AIA continues to push for legislation and regulatory reform that, if enacted, will greatly advance the cause of sustainable design nationwide.
I am optimistic that 2007 will be seen as the year we moved from arguing over the reality of climate change to taking meaningful action to address its strategic, economic and quality of life implications. The members of the American Institute of Architects are stepping forward to do our part, applying the power of design to provide solutions for single buildings (both old and new) and entire communities, shaping a more sustainable future for the planet. The choice is not a matter of doing with less, but doing better.
