Committee on the Environment

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ALBION DISTRICT LIBRARY BY PERKINS + WILL IS A 2018 COTE TOP TEN RECIPIENT. IMAGE: DOUBLESPACE PHOTOGRAPHY

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Who we are

The Committee on the Environment (COTE®) is an AIA Knowledge Community working for architects, allied professionals, and the public to achieve climate action and climate justice through design. We believe that design excellence is the foundation of a healthy, sustainable, and equitable future. Our work promotes design strategies that empower all AIA members to realize the best social and environmental outcomes with the clients and the communities they serve.

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To learn about the Framework for Design Excellence (formerly the COTE Top Ten Measures), click here.

Check out COTE's history and timeline. 

Starting a local COTE or sustainability group and need some guidance? Check out the AIA COTE Network Resources here.

A big thank you to our 2024 sponsors: 
Founding sponsors: Building Green
Premier sponsors: Sherwin-Williams
Sustaining sponsors: GAF Roofing, Milliken, Andersen Windows,
BlueScope Buildings
Green sponsors: EPIC Metals
Allied sponsors: TLC Engineering, Sierra Pacific Windows

  • 1.  Reducing Embodied Carbon in Buildings

    Posted 08-27-2021 10:30 AM
    Low-cost ways to cut buildings' carbon footprint are already available to U.S. architects, contractors and construction materials suppliers, according to a new report from think tank RMI and global construction firm Skanska. (Canary Media is an independent subsidiary of RMI.)

    Buildings account for at least 39 percent of energy-related global carbon emissions on an annual basis. At least one-quarter of these emissions result from embodied carbon, or the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance, and disposal of building materials.

    This report highlights low-cost and no-cost solutions for reducing embodied carbon in buildings during a project's design and construction phases. In case studies of three common building types, applying these solutions demonstrates an embodied carbon savings potential of 24 to 46 percent at cost premiums of less than 1 percent.

    In fact, according to the report's case studies, deploying methods to make use of materials and standards that are already in place today could shave between a quarter to nearly half the typical building's embodied carbon at little more than 1 percent extra cost, compared to business-as-usual approaches.

    https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/we-already-have-the-low-cost-tools-we-need-to-cut-the-carbon-hidden-in-buildings

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    Laurie Barlow AIA
    Principal/Partner
    L. Barlow & Company
    South Pasadena CA
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  • 2.  RE: Reducing Embodied Carbon in Buildings

    Posted 08-27-2021 12:31 PM
    Thank you for postinng this, Laurie! It's a strong study.

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    Kira Gould
    Principal
    Kira Gould CONNECT
    Oakland CA
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