LPA Records Highest Energy Reduction Reporting Yet for the AIA 2030 Commitment

The AIA Architecture Firm Award winner surpassed 80% energy reduction across all 2025 projects, inching closer to the pledge’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions in the built environment by 2030.

The American Institute of Architects’ 2030 Commitment is a climate strategy pledge with more than 1,400 participating firms across the United States working toward a collective goal of reaching net-zero emissions across all projects. 

For 2025, LPA Design Studios achieved an 80.7% predicted energy use intensity (pEUI) reduction, the highest result in the firm’s history, and less than 10 percentage points away from 2025’s 90% target. This figure also significantly exceeds 2024’s national average of a 56% pEUI reduction.

“Participating in the AIA 2030 Commitment gives us a powerful framework to demonstrate what we stand for as an integrated design firm,” said Keith Hempel, LPA President and Chief Design Officer. “Project by project, we’re proving that sustainable, net‑zero-emission design is not an aspiration but a standard we’re committed to achieving.”

This year’s data continues an upward trend for the firm. LPA reported a 71.4% pEUI reduction in 2023, and 76.2% in 2024. Reaching an 80.7% pEUI reduction for 2025 is especially meaningful because the firm accomplished it across a larger number of smaller projects.

In 2024, fewer than 6% of reporting firms achieved an 80% pEUI reduction. Throughout 2025, LPA saw more projects that crossed the 80% reduction threshold, including projects that integrated on-site renewable energy systems and targeted net-zero energy.

Breaking the numbers down by studio, LPA San Diego led the firm with a remarkable 95.9% pEUI reduction — surpassing 2025’s 90% goal and just over four percentage points away from the 2030 target. The San Diego studio’s leadership credits their success to a sequenced approach that starts each project with an informed, high‑performance design that aligns with the project budget, followed by building electrification and incorporating renewable energy systems.

LPA’s interiors and lighting design teams also surpassed the Commitment’s 25% target reduction for predicted lighting power density (LPD), with an outstanding 51% from 90 reported projects totaling over 800,000 square feet.

These firmwide achievements can be attributed to better communication and collaboration between project teams and the firm’s Sustainability + Applied Research group (S+AR). Throughout 2025, the S+AR team encouraged teams to use energy modeling as a way to guide design decisions, improve outcomes for clients and help the firm meet its 2030 goals.

“As we move closer to 2030, leading data‑driven conversations and clearly illustrating the long‑term benefits of lower operating costs and reduced carbon emissions will only grow more essential,” Hempel said. “Our role is to help clients and communities make choices that create lasting value and champion environmental stewardship.”