.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;}
Architects have been preaching the benefits of sustainable design for a long time. Locally, they expressed that message loud and clear during the Iowa chapter of the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) 2008 fall conference, which focused on the role buildings play in emitting greenhouse gases and AIA’s goal to make buildings carbon neutral by 2030.

“It’s very difficult for anyone who attended the convention this year to come away from it not knowing that the issue exists and not knowing ways that we should be counted upon to provide solutions,” said Mike Broshar, a principal of INVISION Architecture in Waterloo and chair of this year’s conference.

Architect Ed Mazria, who spoke at the local AIA conference in late September, started Architecture 2030, a nonprofit focused on the global-warming crisis, in 2002. With buildings responsible for nearly half of all greenhouse gas emissions and for using 76 percent of all energy generated by U.S. power plants, Mazria set the goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in all new buildings and major renovations by 50 percent of the current national average by 2010 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions another 10 percent every five years until buildings are constructed to be carbon neutral by 2030. AIA signed on with the initiative in 2005.

“It’s aggressive, but it’s also possible,” said Kate Schwennsen, associate dean of Iowa State University’s College of Design and former president of the national AIA’s board of directors.

“I think most people are more aware of what they’re paying for energy than they are about the issues of climate change and the carbon dioxide contributing to global climate change,” Broshar said. “I think what we’re trying to do is connect the dots between the fact that we’re doing it and it’s really not necessarily coming from our automobiles. It’s really coming from power plants and buildings.”

Kevin Nordmeyer, a principal at RDG Planning & Design and past chair of the Iowa chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, said Mazria’s presentation was compelling because it showed that “by designing all new buildings from here on out a lot more efficient than code, as we renovate buildings a lot more efficient than code, it can help us get to a carbon neutral state by 2030 without even dealing with nuclear power or oil.”

Other major national organizations, including the U.S. Council of Mayors (where Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie has helped lead the charge for green issues) and the U.S. Green Building Council, signed on to the initiative as well, but it has been slow to reach a grassroots level until this fall conference. Now local architects will likely focus more on advocating for these changes with building owners and politicians.

Meeting the 2010 goal is possible today, with AIA presenting a guide of 50 ways to get there, said Broshar. A lot of what it will take to reach this goal can be accomplished through passive design, such as the way a building sits on a site, and other technology that’s becoming more common in sustainable design, such as geothermal heating and cooling, green roofs and daylighting.

However, meeting the 2030 challenge could require technology, such as solar panels and wind turbines, coming down in scale and price to be more viable on smaller projects. It’s achievable today, Broshar said, but comes with a high cost.

Though architects are often at the mercy of what their clients want, they can make a case with building owners that these moves save energy, which can reduce operating costs, experts say.

Government agencies and public educational institutions are among the earliest and most aggressive adopters, often because they plan to use their buildings long-term and want to be good stewards of taxpayers’ money. Iowa State University President Gregory Geoffroy announced earlier this year a “Live Green!” initiative, which includes the goal to achieve a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold rating (the second-highest rating) on all new campus construction and major renovation projects. Schwennsen noted that the university was reluctant to sign on to the 2030 initiative because it wasn’t sure it could meet that goal.

Prospective building owners also are considering sustainable practices, especially because of the potential to reduce energy costs over time. The harder case to make, Broshar said, is with developers looking to sell a building after it is completed. Even then, he said, architects can make the case that a more efficient building could sell at a higher price.

Even if building owners can’t afford to become carbon neutral at first, they can design their buildings to be flexible for adding updates in the future, Nordmeyer said. The Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities’ building, which was designed to be 55 percent more efficient than a typical code-compliant office building in Iowa, is now striving to be carbon neutral.

However, to get to the 2030 goal, architects say it will take mandates or incentives to encourage all building owners and developers to comply. “I think it takes both carrots and sticks,” Schwennsen said, with a combination of tax incentives and regulations.

“We have a code in the state of Iowa now that says all buildings must be designed to a certain level,” Broshar said, “and I guess that code today does not meet the goals of the 2010 and 2030 challenge, but I think that inevitably it will need to.”

Nordmeyer is a bigger proponent of incentives that help cover the additional expense to meet aggressive energy-efficiency goals. Technology such as solar panels is “just too expensive for people to pay for it,” he said.

The 2030 initiative will likely be a big focus for architects in the next few years, with the national AIA requiring four hours of continuing education on carbon reduction next year to remain apart of the organization.

State and local governments may be willing to listen, with Iowa establishing a commission on energy-efficiency standards and practices this year. Its first meeting is scheduled for this week, said Nordmeyer, who will sit on the commission.

Though architects admit the goal is aggressive, they believe even if they don’t meet it, it will at least help them advance closer in that direction.

“When I was with the American Institute of Architects,” Schwennsen said, “we finally said as a group we’ve got to start talking the talk and start walking the walk. If that means we have to really take on more than maybe we think we can do, that’s OK. You’ve got to have a goal and set your sights high … and you’ll accomplish more.”