New Online Portal for AIA 2030 Eases Burden of Reporting

Firms that have signed onto the American Institute of Architects (AIA) 2030 Commitment credit the program with increasing staff awareness of energy-saving targets, expanding the use of energy modeling, and improving the energy efficiency of their designs. However, these committed firms represent just a small fraction of those engaged with the AIA, and even fewer have followed through with their pledge to report their projects’ predicted energy use annually. Only 99 firms submitted data in 2013.

In an effort to increase participation, the AIA has replaced 2030 spreadsheets with the sleek AIA 2030 Design Data Exchange (DDx). This Web-based tool, developed in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), provides a portal to report on projects and see how they stack up against various benchmarks. Behind-the-scenes integration with the Environmental Protection Agency’s TargetFinder tool and its underlying Portfolio Manager database make it easy to compare projects against the industry average. A user can also anonymously research how a modeled project might compare to similar projects in the 2030 Portfolio (the complete list of all projects in the system).

Additionally, the tool’s graphics should make it much easier to track energy performance across an organization over time. According to Melissa DeStout, project architect with Perkins Eastman, the visuals have already helped “open [their] eyes to the different types of projects and results [they] have been producing.” Data that was submitted in 2013 has already been uploaded, and 2014 data is being added now.

Committed firms automatically have full access to the tool, and others can test it for free. 

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