In 2009 the American Institute of Architects (AIA) introduced the 2030 Commitment Program, a voluntary initiative for AIA member firms and other entities in the built environment that asks these organizations to make a pledge, develop multi-year action plans, and implement steps that can advance AIA's goal of carbon neutral buildings by the year 2030. At the end of the 2010 calendar year, firms were asked to submit an assessment of their 2010 design work using a tool released by the AIA last year.
"The findings are a good first step to see where we are as an industry in reaching the ultimate goal of achieving carbon neutrality in buildings by 2030. It is encouraging to see the number of participating firms in this program and the large amount of real estate that their projects account for," said AIA EVP/Chief Executive Officer, Robert Ivy, FAIA. "That said it is also a wake-up call for the profession that we need to be more steadfast in the prediction of energy usage in design projects, as well as collecting actual post-occupancy performance data."
A new report, Measuring Industry Progress towards AIA 2030 Carbon Reduction Goal, includes data from 56 firms accounting for nearly 385 million gross square feet (GSF) nationwide.
The key findings include:
- Firms reported a combined average 35.1% predicted energy use intensity (PEUI) reduction from the national average EUI.
- The largest PEUI reduction reported by a firm is 70.6%
- The smallest PEUI reduction reported by a firm is 11.6%
- The combined firms design portfolio that is meeting the current goal of a 60% reduction in carbon emissions reduction from the national average is 12.1%
- The largest percentage of GSF of active projects meeting goal reported by one firm is 69.8%
- The smallest percentage of GSF of active projects meeting goal reported by one firm is 0% (reported by multiple firms)
- GSF of projects currently being energy modeled is 58%
- The percentage of projects that will collect actual data is 38%
The full report also contains participating firm demographics, energy reduction initiatives undertaken by firms and anecdotal accounts of the challenges and lessons learned through participating in the 2030 Commitment Program.