If you are in real estate, you already know new building and housing starts are down. Now, the AIA has put some numbers around it. A new report shows that construction spending is down 27 percent since 2008, a loss of $300 billion in economic activity. Leanne Tobias at Greenbiz writes:

"As reported in a new study by the American Institute of Architects, construction spending in the U.S. has declined by 27 percent since 2008, an economic loss of close to $300 billion. (An additional $470 billion in construction-related spending also has been lost.) Private construction projects have been particularly hard hit, declining by more than a third, while public construction is down roughly 10 percent.

Across the board, open data is fueling important discussions about access to information in a post web 2.0 world and what we can do with such data when we have it. Simply put, open data matters because it significantly improves the overall quality and quantity of information, which fuels innovation and collaboration, and accelerates the rate of improvement.

California residents now have access to a new resource to help them plan home energy retrofits and take advantage of the myriad of incentives, rebates and tax credits available from local, state and federal governments.  Energy Upgrade California, a new program developed by the California Energy Commission, local governments, utilities, the California Public Utilities Commission and contractors specializing in home energy audits, upgrades and retrofits, aims to make energy efficiency improvements and easy and attractive investment for homeowners.  The overall program objectives are to reduce household energy consumption, save consumer money on utility bills and create jobs in the building performance industry.

In a speech at Penn State University, President Obama announced the Better Buildings Initiative, a program aimed at achieving a 20% improvement in energy efficiency of America’s commercial buildings by the year 2020 and saving $40 billion per year in utility bills.  With the Better Buildings Initiative, the Obama administration is looking to make energy efficiency retrofits easier and even more attractive.  The initiative will work with government and the private sector to increase access to financing for energy efficiency projects, improve tax incentives for building owners, and award grants to local and state governments that streamline regulations and enact measures to attract private investment.

In 2006 Architecture 2030 issued the 2030 Challenge to the building to community: make all new buildings’ operations carbon neutral by 2030.  Now Architecture 2030 is taking on building products.  Yesterday the non-profit announced the 2030 Challenge for Products, an initiative that calls on the building community to specify, design and manufacture products that reduce their carbon footprints by 30% in comparison to average products starting in 2014.  The ultimate goal is to reduce the carbon footprints of building products by 50% by 2030. With this announcement Architecture 2030 makes the leap from dealing exclusively with the operational efficiency of buildings into the realm of life cycle carbon footprints of individual products.

“Energy efficiency measures should be the first thing on the mind of each and every clean-energy advocate,” according to Clean Edge’s Clean Tech Job Trends 2010.

Market research organization, Clean Edge, highlights in its report Clean Tech Job Trends 2010 that within the Clean Tech space Energy Efficiency ought to be at the top of everyone’s list.  Why? First, less is more – consuming less energy means generating less energy.  And second, investments in energy efficiency have superior job creation potential.

A new study out of Cambridge University demonstrates that up to 73% of the world’s energy use could be saved by implementing design changes to passive systems that improve efficiency and lower demand. This study explores the potential for demand-side energy savings through sophisticated energy modeling and current global energy data.

Former President Bill Clinton appeared on the David Letterman show.

Besides touching on his daughter's wedding, he also managed to steer the conversation to a topic near and dear to his (and our) heart: the absolute importance of "fixing" buildings so that they're more energy efficient.

Kids can move mountains. We know that because kids made drunk driving uncool and stopped their parents from smoking. Kids also drive the future of media, marketing, and advertising - and the way brands connect with their customers that will keep their bottom lines growing. Kids want to be inspired. Kids were inspired by the first man-on-moon. They went science and space crazy and an entire generation of engineers were born. That's happening now. What's the movement? Saving energy and saving money...something we're part of and make happen every day - too.

In today's world, when a group of people in a community set out to create a new building, or improve an existing one, the crucial question each of must ask ourselves and each other is  - "In 10 years, 20 years, 50 years will this building be part of the solution, or will be part of the problem?"