As world leaders considered major changes in emissions standards at the Copenhagen climate talks, in Seattle architects have been looking to make changes on a more local level.

The Copenhagen climate talks wrapped up Dec. 18, with U.S. officials saying they made "meaningful" progress that could lead to a binding international treaty by the end of next year.

In Seattle, Lisa Richmond, executive director of the American Institute of Architects Seattle, said she hopes to mobilize local support for an initiative to make Seattle the first carbon neutral city in the U.S. by 2030.

“We would certainly be a model for other cities if we were willing to put ourselves out there and achieve a goal this ambitious,” said Richmond.  “The next step is to think of being carbon neutral as an organizing principal for making decisions across the board.”

Craig Curtis, a principal at Miller Hull Partnership in Seattle, said the local AIA chapter has already adopted the national AIA 2030 Challenge – to have all new buildings designed to be carbon neutral. By 2010, the goal is to be designing buildings that are 30 percent lower than the current energy code.

“We’re headed this way already,” said Curtis, referring to carbon neutrality. “There are so many benefits once we go down this road.”

Curtis and Richmond said Seattle should consider implementing a carbon neutral policy by studying all sectors of municipal policy affecting areas such as schools and parks.

Schools that are retrofitted to lower energy use standards provide healthier environments in which to learn; additional parks and bike paths mean healthier lifestyles, and additional community gardens could mean more eyes on the street to deter crime.

“We’re setting a really big goal,” said Richmond. “Nobody knows exactly how to get there. It’s an aspirational goal, but it’s exciting to think about having a clearly articulated goal for all levels of government.”

Curtis hopes that the goal of carbon neutrality can guide more than just building development. “If we make decisions with that in mind, we end up with a greater place to live regardless of how we get there.”

Already, he said, sustainable advances in the built environment reflect a major change in how people view a building’s role in reducing our carbon footprint. Buildings create about 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Seattle, as well as Portland, are leaders in designing new ways to reduce a building’s carbon footprint.

Curtis said the development community in the Seattle region has backed the idea of green building.

“We’ve got a development community that really supports this and who wants to do it well,” he said, regarding sustainable building practices. “Developers know that it financially makes sense.”

Already, sustainable buildings – built to, for example, LEED standards – have provided environments in which workers are healthier and more productive. “We’ve started to see all these side benefits,” he said.

So it makes perfect sense, he said, to extend the goals of local architects into other areas of municipal life – with the possible added benefit of reducing crime and improving educational performance.

Curtis and Richmond wrote an op-ed article in the Seattle Times explaining the need for the new carbon neutral challenge. Curtis said he has received positive feedback from the city’s Department of Planning and city council.

“We’ve also heard back from people in the business development community, so we need to get these factions together,” he said.

Richmond said the recent mayor’s administration, led by Greg Nickels, was supportive of pursuing ways to reduce buildings’ carbon emissions, and she hopes that the new mayor, Mike McGinn, will share that enthusiasm.

“It’s exciting to think about having a clearly articulated goal that would filter down to all levels of government,” she said.

While the existing 2030 challenge applies just to buildings, Richmond said the architecture community wants to see more done.

“Let’s step it up,” she said, “and think of becoming a carbon neutral city.”