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EPA Honors Architecture Firm: Innovative Design

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized Innovative Design, a Raleigh-based architecture firm, for “Excellence in Energy Efficiency.” The firm was honored at the 2006 Annual ENERGY STAR® Awards dinner on March 21 as the first architecture firm to receive recognition for energy-efficient design.

EPA’s ENERGY STAR, the government-backed symbol of energy efficiency, expanded its designation to include building designs in 2004. Architecture and engineering firms are eligible to receive the designation for design projects that meet energy use targets in the top 25 percent of U.S. building stock.

Innovative Design was recognized for its design projects that earned the ENERGY STAR. The firm submitted four school designs, averaging energy performance in the top 10 percent. The firm attributes most of the energy savings to daylighting design throughout the school facility. Over the past 24 months, Innovative Design has designed or consulted on 26 projects, totaling 3 million square feet, incorporating sustainability principles and strategies and performing energy simulation analysis on most projects.

“Innovative Design is committed to good design, and using less energy to operate its buildings is good for the environment,” said Karen P. Butler, EPA’s manager for ENERGY STAR Commercial New Construction. “They understand how to set and design energy targets at the top performance levels, and we encourage all other architecture firms to follow their lead.”

FACTS about the ENERGY STAR program

Innovative Design

  • Innovative Design has been recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for Excellence in Energy Efficiency for its commitment to sustainable, energy-efficient design.
  • Innovative Design is the first architecture firm to be recognized by EPA for energy efficiency.
  • The award will be presented on March 21 at the ENERGY STAR® awards ceremony in Washington, D.C.
  • Innovative Design has designed more than 700 buildings incorporating renewable energy solutions.
  • The solar and energy-efficiency features incorporated into Innovative Design’s 4,700 buildings have saved more than 3 trillion Btus in energy, an amount equal to $76.5 million.
  • Innovative Design has designed 11 day-lit schools, 38 renovated schools, and was a major consultant in the design of 28 other day-lit schools. These schools are now 1.4 trillion Btus in energy, an amount equal to $36 million.
  • In 2005, Innovative Design submitted four building designs to EPA, receiving the “Designed to Earn ENERGY STAR” graphic on the project drawings, more than any other architecture firm in the country.

ENERGY STAR

  • ENERGY STAR is a government-backed program helping businesses and individuals protect the environment through superior energy efficiency. EPA has partnered with more than 8,000 organizations, including 70 architecture and engineering firms, to improve and promote the energy efficiency of products, homes, and businesses.
  • Public awareness of ENERGY STAR has reached more than 60 percent of U.S. households, according to a nationwide survey.
  • As of January 2006, more than 2,500 office buildings, schools, hospitals, and public buildings, representing 482 million square feet, have earned the ENERGY STAR.
  • ENERGY STAR for existing buildings was launched in 1995 as an extension of the ENERGY STAR program for products that started in 1992. ENERGY STAR for new building design began in 2004.
  • As part of the January 2006 agreement between EPA, the Department of Defense, and several other federal agencies, the ENERGY STAR performance rating system for buildings has been identified as one of the key factors in assuring that new buildings are among the most energy efficient in the country.