The American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment recently announced the TOP TEN GREEN PROJECTS FOR 2009. The projects were evaluated in ten different categories listed and described below. This list is also a great source of questions that you should be asking yourself when designing a project.

1.    Sustainable Design Intent & Innovation
 Sustainable design is a key element when design a building. Projects should address sustainable design intentions and concepts from its very beginning. You should consider things like: environmental issues; ecological goals and concepts; sustainable design innovations; program analysis; natural resources; and efforts to "right size" the project and to reduce unnecessary square footage.

2.    Regional/Community Design & Connectivity
Sustainable design should also consider the unique cultural and natural character of a given region. You should consider things like: how the design relates to the local context and to larger regional issues; how the design promotes regional and community connectivity and sense of place, public space and community interaction; transportation policies, incentives, and other efforts to provide for those using transportation alternatives; site selection criteria to reduce automobile use; and how mandated parking can be reduced.

 3.    Land Use & Site Ecology
Sustainable design should protect and benefit ecosystems, watersheds, and wildlife habitat. You should consider things like: how the development of the project’s site responds to its ecological context; how the development of the immediate site and its buildings contribute to environmental quality; how the design accommodates wildlife habitat preservation and creation; how the landscape design protects or creates on-site ecosystems; and how the design responds to local development density (rural to urban).

4.    Bioclimatic Design
Sustainable design needs to adapt to site- specific and regional climate conditions to protect site resources providing comfort at the same time. A site analysis needs to be done in order to understand things like: local climate, sun path, prevailing breezes, and seasonal and daily cycles through passive design strategies. You should consider thing like: site and climatic analysis; description of internal versus external building loads; design strategies that reduce or eliminate the need for non-renewable energy resources; how these strategies can shape the building plan, section, and massing; and how these strategies affect placement, orientation, and shading of the building.

5.    Light & Air
Sustainable design should provide comfortable interior environments that provide daylight, views, and fresh air. You should consider things like: design strategies for daylighting, task lighting, ventilation, indoor air quality, views, and personal control systems; how the design can enhances connections between indoors and outdoors; and approach to integration of natural systems and appropriate technology.

6.    Water Cycle
Sustainable design should conserve water and protect and improve water quality.
You should consider things like: how building and site design strategies manage site water and drainage, and capitalize on renewable sources (such as precipitation) on the immediate site; water-conserving landscape and building design strategies; and reuse strategies for water including use of rainwater, graywater, and wastewater.

7.    Energy Flows & Energy Future
Sustainable design should conserve energy and resources and also reduce the carbon footprint while improving building performance and comfort. You should consider things like: how the building design reduces energy loads for heating, cooling, lighting, and water heating; how the design and integration of building systems contributes to energy conservation and reduce use of fossil fuels, green house gas emissions, and improves building performance and comfort; techniques for systems integration use of controls and technologies, and efficient lighting strategies; use of on-site renewable and alternative energy systems; strategies to reduce peak electrical demand, and how the building or parts of the building provide "passive survivability" the ability to function in the event of power outages or interruptions in fuel supply.

8.    Materials & Construction
Sustainable design should make smart selections of materials and products to reduce product-cycle environmental impacts, improve performance, and optimize occupant health and comfort. You should consider things like: efforts to reduce the amount of material used on the project; materials selection criteria, considerations, and constraints, such as optimizing health, durability, maintenance, and energy use, and/or reducing the impacts of extraction, manufacturing, and transportation; how the building enclosure will perform in relationship to air, moisture, water and thermal characteristics; consideration given to impacts on the environment over the full life cycle and the results of life cycle assessment if available; description of any "green lease" program; and construction waste reduction plans and any strategies to promote recycling during occupancy.

9.    Long Life, Loose Fit
Sustainable design should increase ecological, social, and economic values over time. You should consider thing like: how the project was designed to promote long-term flexibility and adaptability; anticipated service life of the project, and description of any components designed for disassembly; and materials, systems, and design solutions developed to enhance versatility, durability, and adaptive reuse potential.

10.    Collective Wisdom & Feedback Loops
Sustainable design strategies and best practices evolve over time through documented performance and shared knowledge of lessons learned. You should consider things like: how you modeled and evaluated the design during the programming and design phases; how you evaluated the performance of the built results; collaborative efforts between the design team, consultants, client, and community; how the process enhanced the performance and success of the building; lessons learned during the design, construction, and occupation of the building; how these lessons would change your approach to this project if starting over, or to future projects; and commissioning and any on-going monitoring of building performance and occupant satisfaction.

Check out the  projects at the AIA website.
http://www.aiatopten.org/hpb/grid2009.cfm?project_id=0&section=1