Architects announce 10 best "green" buildings

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The best environmentally friendly buildings in the United States include a visitor center in Texas, a water treatment plant in Connecticut and a house in California, U.S. architects announced on Monday.

In presenting the Top 10 Green Awards, the American Institute of Architects celebrated the best examples of sustainable architecture and environmental design.

"What few people realize is that buildings have the greatest impact on climate change -- more than transportation and industry -- because they consume so much electricity and natural gas, and they're all powered by power plants that themselves produce carbon emissions," Scott Frank, the group's spokesman, said by telephone.

Frank said the winners in this competition show that a lot of energy-efficient design innovations do not add a lot to the cost of a building, especially when spread over the expected lifetime of the building.

He noted that there were 95 entries in this year's competition, compared with 54 entries last year. Started 11 years ago, the competition has drawn between 40 to 50 submissions in the past.

The winners are:

-- EpiCenter, Artists for Humanity, Boston, Massachusetts, by Arrowstreet Inc., which features a grassy courtyard irrigated by rainwater collected on the roof;

-- Global Ecology Research Center, Stanford, California, by EHDD Architects, a low-energy laboratory and office building that cut carbon emissions associated with building operation by 72 percent;