The American Institute of Architects National Government Advocacy Team and Architecture 2030 are urging the US Conference of Mayors to adopt Resolution 50 which sets a goal of carbon-neutral city buildings by 2030 — that is, new city buildings will use no fossil-fuel or greenhouse gas emitting energy sources to operate.
The orgs are asking people to call their mayors this week before the meeting in early June. Background information, talking points, sample letters, and contact info up http://www.architecture2030.org/news/index.php
The text of the resolution reads like a nice little manifesto. Click below for the full text.
And how rare and wonderful to see a professional association engaging with progressive public policy!
Resolution No.50
Submitted By:
The Honorable Martin Chavez
Mayor of Albuquerque
The Honorable Greg Nickels
Mayor of Seattle
The Honorable Richard M. Daley
Mayor of Chicago
The Honorable Manuel A. Diaz
Mayor of Miami
ADOPTING THE “2030 CHALLENGE” FOR CITY BUILDINGS
- WHEREAS, the U.S. Conference of Mayors has previously
adopted strong policy resolutions for cities, communities,
and the federal government to take actions to reduce fossil
fuel consumption and global warming pollution; and
- WHEREAS, the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC), the international community’s most respected
assemblage of scientists, has found that climate disruption
is a reality and that human activities are largely
responsible for increasing concentrations of global warming
pollution; and
- WHEREAS, the U.S. Building Sector has been shown to be the
major consumer of fossil fuel and producer of global
warming causing greenhouse gases; and
- WHEREAS, the federal government through programs fostered
within many of its key agencies and numerous state
governments as well as municipalities across the U.S. have
adopted high performance green building principles; and
- WHEREAS, a recent study completed by Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory, the most definitive cost-benefit
analysis of green buildings ever conducted, concluded that
the financial benefits of green design are between $50 and
$70 per square foot, more than 10 times the additional cost
associated with building green; and
- WHEREAS, the large positive impact on employee productivity
and health gains suggests that green building has a
cost-effective impact beyond just the utility bill savings;
and
- WHEREAS, studies have indicated that student attendance and
performance is higher in high performance school buildings;
and
- WHEREAS, recognizing that a building’s initial construction
costs represent only 20-30 percent of the building’s entire
costs over its 30 to 40 year life, emphasis should be
placed on the “life cycle costs” of a public building
rather than on solely its initial capital costs; and
- WHEREAS, the construction industry in the U.S. represents a
significant portion of our economy and a significant
portion of the building industry is represented by small
business and an increase in sustainable building
practices will encourage and promote new and innovative
small business development throughout the nation; and
- WHEREAS, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the
national professional organization representing architects
has adopted a position statement calling for the immediate
energy reduction of all new and renovated buildings to onehalf
the national average for that building type, with
increased reductions of 10% every five years so that by the
year 2030 all buildings designed will be carbon neutral,
meaning they will use no fossil fuel energy.
- NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the U.S. Conference of
Mayors will encourage its members to adopt the following
“2030 Challenge” for building performance targets:
- New construction of City buildings shall be designed to
and achieve a minimum delivered fossil-fuel energy
consumption performance standard of one half the U.S.
average for that building type as defined by the U.S.
Department of Energy.
- Renovation projects of City buildings shall be designed
to and achieve a minimum delivered fossil-fuel energy
consumption performance standard of one half the U.S.
average for that building type as defined by the U.S.
Department of Energy.
- All other new construction, renovations, repairs, and
replacements of City buildings shall employ costeffective,
energy-efficient, green building practices to
the maximum extent possible; and
- NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the U.S.
Conference of Mayors will work to increase the fossil-fuel
reduction standard for all new buildings to carbon neutral
by 2030, in the following increments:
-
60% in 2010
70% in 2015
80% in 2020
90% in 2025
Carbon-neutral by 2030 (meaning new buildings will use no
fossil fuel GHG [green house gas] emitting energy to operate); and
- BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the U.S. Conference of Mayors
will urge mayors from around the nation to join this
effort by developing plans to fully implement the above
mentioned targets as part of their procurement process and
by establishing policies to insure compliance and measure
results; and
- BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the U.S. Conference of Mayors
will urge mayors from around the nation to develop plans
to fully implement the above mentioned targets for all new
and renovated buildings within the City; and
- BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the U.S. Conference of Mayors
will work in conjunction with ICLEI Local Governments
for Sustainability and other appropriate organizations to
join this effort to develop plans to fully implement
similar targets as mentioned above.
Text from the full list of resolutions (PDF).