IES Blog

Architecture 2030 is somewhat of a “hot topic” around the IES offices. There’s always something new to talk about as it relates to the goal focused of protecting our global environment by using innovation and common sense to develop solutions to the increasing problem of global warming.

I recently came across this article on Daily Commercial News by Wayne DeAngelis. In his article, titled “Time to re-think energy use and production,” he gets to the core of what Architecture 2030 is all about.

When American architect Edward Mazria first pondered the notion of what architecture would be like in the year 2030, he was no doubt well aware of the struggle that lay ahead in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, building waste, brownfields, greenfields and the usurping of this planet’s precious finite resources such as water, land and air. Yet he may not have anticipated the momentum “The 2030 Challenge” would initiate.

We’ve quoted Ed Mazria before. I think this quote from a few years’ ago is worth taking another look.
“We tend to rush toward the complex when trying to solve a daunting problem, but in this case, simplicity wins. Better buildings, responsible energy use and renewable energy choices are all we need to tackle both energy independence and climate change,” said Mazria.

And that’s just the thing. In order to tackle climate change and build sustainable buildings not just now, but for the future, we need to stop and take a step back. Simplicity at its core is something we should practice in many areas of our lives, especially design. Rather than building massive buildings that are underutilized and aren’t energy efficient, we need to take a look at the earliest stages of the design process and ask ourselves, “What is the goal of this building?” Many times, the answer helps guide the design and its ultimate simplicity.

We’ve got just under two decades to get to Architecture 2030. Can we do it?

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Tags:Architects, Architecture 2030, design, Environment, IES, Renewables, Sustainability

Seattle Space Needle

When you think about the “big cities” in the U.S., and the ones that are usually at the forefront of trends, you usually think of New York City and San Francisco.

But Seattle?

According to a recent article in Sustainable Industries, Seattle is proving to be a powerhouse when it comes to energy efficiency in commercial buildings.

“Seattle’s buildings provide one of the greatest opportunities to generate energy savings and boost economic development for the city,” Department of Planning and Development director Diane Sugimura said in a news release. “This new program will help building owners take a key step toward increasing building energy efficiency, which, in turn, helps lower operating costs, makes buildings more competitive and creates good local jobs.”

That’s what it’s all about after all. Increasing energy efficiency within buildings for a truly sustainable future. The savings in terms of money is a bonus.

Next week, Seattle Energy & Design Roundtable will be hosting an event at the US Bank Center Building. Our U.S. Business Development Manager Nathan Kegel will be discussing VE-Gaia from early phase design all the way through project completion and submittal to rating authorities. Dan Munn and Matt Glassman from DLR Group will then present on how they used IES VE for early phase design and highlight training programs used at DLR to help architects reach the Architecture 2030 goals.

Speaking of Architecture 2030, the Architecture 2030 District mentioned in the article certainly sounds like a model for success. I’ll be interested to see the successes there.

So we’ll be keeping our eyes on Seattle and the many other cities developing and implementing energy efficiency standards for commercial buildings. It’s an exciting time for sustainable design!

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Tags:Architecture 2030, DLR, IES VE, Seattle, Sustainability

I just read this great perspective on the bill from Matt Macko on CleanTechies.  Working at IES, which is solely focused on enabling low-energy building design and has a presence on both sides of the pond, I’ve seen the rise of the importance of carbon reduction first here in Europe and now in the US. Public opinion here is still divided, but the tide is definitely turning…

Matt comments on how US public opinion to the bill has been quite negative…

“The public response to this bill has not been good. Googling the bill generated several articles: almost all were in opposition. Sadly, people tote it as another method Obama has found to increase taxes. They claim it is an unnecessary step to solve a group of alarmists’ wild and false theory, Global Warming. Without arguing the validity of Global Warming, one friend put it to me this way: “If the believers are wrong and Global Warming is not true then we have implemented changes that will improve our environment and the Earth, if the naysayers are wrong and Global Warming does exist and we do nothing, our cities are underwater.”

There are however many (like Matt) in the US completely behind this bill and 100% committed to sustainable building design, not least Ed Mazria of Architecture 2030 - you should definitely read his take on the bill at http://www.architecture2030.org/news/news_072209.html

Or Jerry Yudelson, a US green building consultant, who released today a video looking at the differences of energy consumption between Europe and the US http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF4lZsx9Ifs. With advocates like this pushing alongside the bill you have to hope that general US public opinion will start to sway towards the positive sometime soon…

Even from a purely commercial perspective, the fact that there is now a market in the US for our building energy analysis software is pretty telling.  It’s been used here in the UK by the top building design firms for over 10 years now.  In the last 3, we’ve been able to open offices in both Boston and San Francisco, with all the major A&E firms engaging with us!

Bring on the change!

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Tags:Architecture 2030, carbon reduction, climate bill, climate change, Ed Mazria, Environment, Green Building, Sustainability, US vs. UK, waxman-markey, zero-carbon building

2010-imperative

As we discussed earlier this year, the 2010 Imperative is on a mission, challenging colleges and universities to become carbon-neutral by 2010. It also aims at making ecological literacy become a key element of design education by that year in an effort to combat global warming and world resource depletion. Many students, firms and Universities have already signed up for 2010 Imperative, as you can see on http://www.architecture2030.org/2010_imperative/2010imperative_adoptions.php.

In fact, it is the students who seem really concerned by climate change, many have chosen to personally adopt the 2010 Imperative and are therefore committed to encouraging their schools to adopt and implement it. Several facebook groups have been created about the 2010 Imperative, which further shows that students want to make everybody sensitive to the challenge launched by the planet.

IES is on-board and doing all we can to help, offering all N. American schools signed up for The 2010 Imperative a free VE-Pro network license, which is worth thousands of dollars. Some of the schools that have signed and taken us up on this offer are the Pratt Institute of Technology, University of Southern California and Savannah College of Art and Design.

But this initiative isn’t just something colleges and universities should be considering. Nationwide, we can all help to make the world a more eco-friendly place by reviewing the ways in which we use things in our everyday lives. Or of you’re in the construction industry, sign up to the 2030 Challenge, and commit to designing buildings with greatly reduced carbon footprints.

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Tags:2010 Imperative, Architecture 2030, free, reduce, VE-Pro