Earlier this year, we covered the launch of the International Living Future Institute’s Net Zero Energy Certification.  The certification, which is the first program that provides third party certification of net zero energy performance, builds upon the Living Building Challenge framework made up imperatives focusing on performance criteria.  Read …

Our coverage of NBBJ’s experience with the 2030 Commitment is the second part of our mini-series about the 2030 Commitment and its impact upon Pacific Northwest architecture firms. Part 1, summarizing national results and the experience of Mithun Architects can be read here ….
NBBJ is one of the

In late January, Preservation Green Lab released a new study, The Greenest Building: Quantifying the Value of Building Reuse….  This research finds that reusing existing buildings typically offers environmental savings over demolition and new construction—even if that new construction is energy-efficient.
The report looked at six very different building types

What do you get when you combine the Portland AIA Design Awards, the Portland AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), NEEA’s BetterBricks initiative, and the Architecture 2030 Challenge? Why, the 2030 Challenge Design Awards, of course! Presented November 10^th… at the Portland AIA COTE Green

As an architect or engineer striving to increase building energy performance, do you often feel the weight of the world on your shoulders? The combined load of client expectations, the 2030 Commitment…, energy models addressing multiple baselines, and LEED documentation, must all be optimized within budget constraints as you

…Wouldn’t it be convenient to compare the energy performance of commercial buildings as readily as you can compare the mileage ratings of different vehicles? Local and state governments around the Northwest are implementing programs to facilitate this process. While the proposed programs, so far, will all rely on EPA’s ENERGY

Designed to be the most energy efficient commercial building in the world – at least for the moment – the Bullitt Foundation’s Cascadia Center… will achieve this objective through integrated architectural and engineering design, cutting-edge technology and components, carefully selected building materials and conscious choices by tenants.
In 2007, Congress

While you may not find them on the racks at airport bookstores, COMNET’s recently published Commercial Buildings Energy Modeling Guidelines and Procedures… are a lot more interesting than you might imagine. While intended as a guideline for building energy modelers and simulation software developers, architects interested in learning to increase

At the AIA Convention in Miami last Thursday, several Northwest firms presented on their efforts to track and benchmark energy performance on all their projects. The session focused on how firms are doing in meeting their AIA 2030 commitments. Margaret Montgomery, Director of Sustainability for NBBJ and Chris Chatto on the ZGF…

The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance’s BetterBricks initiative congratulates the Seattle AIA 2010 What Makes It Green Award winners and the Seattle AIA and Seattle COTE for an outstanding program and process. The program culminated in the 11th annual awards event held in Seattle on June 2^nd…. This came