The push to make commercial and residential buildings more energy efficient is taking off. The runway may have been a long one, but the idea is gaining altitude.

The National Governors Association just adopted green building standards developed by the American Institute of Architects to promote carbon-neutral buildings. The program calls for all new and renovated buildings to become carbon-neutral by 2030 by adopting many of the programs outlined in the AIA’s Walk The Walk program.

Buildings attain carbon neutrality by adopting energy efficiencies that reduce demand for electricity produced by burning fossil fuels. That then reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Other energy programs include purchasing clean electricity produced by wind, solar or other renewable resources.

Meanwhile, in the practice-what-you-preach category, the U.S. Green Building Council’s newly opened headquarters in Washington, D.C., meets the council’s top-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standard for energy-efficient buildings.

The new headquarters uses money-saving innovations that are helping create the $60 billion green building industry. Its green features include:

• energy-reduction programs that require less than 50% of the electricity used by normal buildings
• water efficiencies that allow the building to use 40% less water than typical buildings
• wood paneling recycled from 500-year old gumwood trees salvaged from the bottom of the Tennessee River
• floor-to-ceiling windows to provide natural light to all workstations, and
• an electronic window shade system to maximize light and minimize glare.

Click here for more details on the Council’s new headquarters.

The AIA’s green building program is outlined here.

Tags: American Institute of Architects, energy efficiency, green buildings