Column: Building designs come closer to achieving energy efficiency
More industry leaders in design and construction are calling for energy-efficient building designs, writes Stephen E. Smith, president of The American Institute of Architects, Michigan. According to Smith, designs that allow for reuse and source local materials are among the emerging trends in the industry. "Armed with equal measures of knowledge and good, old-fashioned American ingenuity, we can create built environments that cost less to build and maintain, have lower true life cycle costs, and nurture us better -- individually and as a society," writes Smith. Flint Journal (Mich.), The (12/15)