The engineering of sustainable buildings is not being taught

From the current issue of The Bridge - - Challenges and Opportunities for Low-Carbon Buildings by John Ochsendorf:

"Engineers who are crucial to designing more sustainable buildings, often become involved too late in the design process to make all of the necessary decisions.  Many key decisions, such as building orientation, glazing ratio (i.e., area of glass/area of opaque wall), and the overall form of the building are made in the earliest design stages.  Once these critical decisions have been made, engineers can attempt to optimize poor design, but it is difficult at that point to achieve a low-carbon design.

The challenge is to integrate engineering analysis in a way that provides rapid feedback to architects and the rest of the design team early in the process.  For this, engineers must be trained as designers, so they can purpose multiple solutions to open-ended problems.  In short, the design of high-performance buildings requires integrated systems thinking beginning in the earliest conceptual design stage.

To ensure that engineers with the necessary skills are available, more of them must be trained in building science and sustainable design.  However, most engineering schools do not directly address the design and operation of buildings, because sustainable building design involves aspects of mechanical engineering, civil engineering, and architecture.

The few existing programs in architectural engineering are turning out graduates, but in numbers far below those of traditional engineering disciplines.  Thus, despite the dramatic economic and environmental impacts of buildings and the growing need for engineers in this field, the engineering of sustainable buildings is not being taught in most schools in the United States."