Green Options

A mere four centuries after the Dutch founded a little settlement in a far off land they named Nieuw Amsterdam; New York City could really use their expertize in dealing with sea levels. Even by the end of this century.

There has been a lot of news out of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in the last few weeks, including the draft version of the new LEED standard. But an alliance between the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and USGBC will help bring green building even further into the mainstream.

Buildings, according to calculations done by Architecture 2030, are responsible for nearly half of the total energy consumption in the United States. And 76 percent of the electricity generated in this country goes to the Building Sector. So while there are a range of steps that need to be taken in moving toward a more sustainable lifestyle, Buildings, and the energy they consume, need to be at the forefront of any considerations when moving toward greater sustainability.

Saving energy in buildings is both one of the easiest things that can be done, as well as one of the hardest. The principles for creating a building that needs less energy and operates more efficiently are well known. Most building technology is fairly basic and easy for even non-experts to understand. This makes it simple. We don’t have to wait for expensive, high tech solutions (though they can contribute greatly and will provide new flexibility and compelling possibilities for building better buildings in the future). Heavily insulated buildings can be easily constructed with readily available and well known technology. Adding more insulation to walls is easy, though there is a cost. Consumers and building owners need to become more aware of the long term costs of operating a building, and give consideration to more than just the initial construction costs. And overcoming economic considerations and taking a long-term view is the hard part.

Architecture Week was first established one year ago as part of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the American Institute of Architects.  This year, for the second Architecture Week, there are three big programs the organization is promoting.  But sustainability gets only a passing mention in one of them, and seems not to be part of the focus anywhere in the program.

While the AIA has another program it also began last year titled “Walk the Walk” that offers a good number of resources on sustainability both for architectural clients and the general public, as well as for architects and other building professionals, the topic is not highlighted in the Architecture Week program in any significant way.

The city of the future is not going to be a Jetson-esque collection of bubbles in the air, or towers connected by monorails, or any other radical vision. The city of the future will be more like that in Blade Runner, mostly recognizably familiar older buildings. Most of the city of the future has already been built and is standing. Certainly new buildings will

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