DENVER - Autodesk Inc. has announced the results of its 2006 Autodesk Green Index, which provides a measure of the adoption of sustainable design techniques by architects. The overall Green Index number, based on a score of zero to 100, is expected to double by 2011, from 30 in 2006. Seventy-seven percent of this year's respondents indicated that client demand is the top driver for architects to practice sustainable design, up from 64 percent in 2005's Green Index. In last year's survey, customer demand was tied with fuel costs as leading drivers for the adoption of green building practices.

"This year's study reveals a growing commitment by architects and owners for supporting sustainable design principles," said Jay Bhatt, vice president, Autodesk building solutions.

According to the 2006 Autodesk Green Index, architects expect to expand their use of design software for energy modeling in the next five years for a variety of tasks, including:

A 258 percent increase to predict and evaluate solar heating (43 percent in 2011, 12 percent in 2006).

A 176 percent increase to predict and evaluate solar lighting (17 percent in 2011, 47 percent in 2006).

A 105 percent increase to evaluate and explore alternative building materials to maximize energy performance and minimize environmental impact (45 percent in 2011, 22 percent in 2006).

A 112 percent increase to conduct energy modeling/baseline analysis (53 percent in 2011, 25 percent in 2006).

The most prevalent energy-saving initiative for architects is high-efficiency HVAC systems, with 64 percent of the study's respondents specifying their use on more than half of their projects over the past year. Five years ago, only 36 percent of architects used high-efficiency HVAC systems on over half of their design projects; 85 percent expect to use high-efficiency HVAC systems on most of their projects by 2011.

The full report is available at the Autodesk Sustainability Center Website at www.autodesk.com/green.

Publication date: 11/27/2006