"Old Is the New Green"

Some days we get caught up in whether our brand-new buildings are going to be LEED-certified. It's become a great selling point to say that your new house is "green". But Pittsburgh is filled with old housing stock, and the most green behavior of all is re-use.

Over in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Matt Grocoff is renovating a 110 year old house. His goal is to reach a net-zero energy home. Given all the old housing stock here in Pittsburgh, we could all take a few lessons. We don't all have the funding to drill geo-thermal wells in our backyards or add solar panels to the roof, but we can all make good choices when doing our renovations. Programs like WattChoices even make these renovations cheap or free. Did you know you can get a $50 rebate for buying a programmable thermostat?



I'm currently in the process of re-doing my attic, turning a previously unpleasant space into a master bedroom and bath. So far, I've added CFL light bulbs, a dual-flush toilet, water-saving faucets, purchased sustainable bamboo flooring and added blown-in insulation. Whether you're adding an addition or just updating the look of your house, it's easy to add some green changes. What green choices have you made?

Raleigh Convention Center joins the ranks of LEED certified Convention Centers

From NewRaleigh.com - Raleigh joins Pittsburgh and five other cities in having LEED certified convention centers. Additional photos by Brian Gassel can be found at the official RCC website. The website also lists the criteria for which the center was awarded LEED sliver status.

PNC's Living Wall

I just made my first trip back to Pittsburgh since we moved to Raleigh-Durham back in May. In addition to seeing first hand how it looks like a bomb was dropped on Market Square, I managed to check out PNC Financial's Living Wall at their headquarters on 5th Avenue. Very neat! In case you missed our earlier post about the proposed wall, Fast Company has the details on The Green Wall of Pittsburgh. Could this finally be the start of what I referred to as the transformation of Pittsburgh's Golden Triangle to The Green Triangle? Here is a post from over two years back where I envisioned a downtown of green roofs and green spaces. The new Market Square and PNC's living wall are a step in the right direction.

Pittsburgh's Green Initiatives in the Limelight Again

Like it or not, Pittsburgh has been vaulted onto the world stage. Next up, World Environment Day (WED) will be hosted in Pittsburgh. Previous hosts of this day include Wellington, New Zealand and Mexico City, Mexico. The last time (and only time) the day was held in the United States was in San Fransisco in 2005. That's some stiff international competition.

"During an announcement this morning at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh on the North Side, Elisabeth Guilbaud-Cox, deputy director of UNEP, said several factors contributed to Pittsburgh's selection including its significance as the birthplace of environmentalist Rachel Carson and because the city recently hosted the G-20 summit."

So we were picked because we were picked for something cool last time? We'll take it.

In other news, the Allegheny County Jail is taking steps to green itself.

"The Allegheny County Jail announced today it has implemented a series of facility enhancements like the use of environmentally friendly cleaning products, installation of lockers made from recycled materials and an expanded recycling program."

They claim these changes will save them $175,000 per year. I suppose I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth and ask why we're implementing these changes at the jail before implementing them in schools across the county? Maybe they realize any future protesters at major Pittsburgh-based world events will more likely see our jails than our schools? First impressions do count.

LEED in Pittsburgh

Lots of people call LEED-certification a scam (in the same boat as "USDA Certified Organic" foods.) The process to get your building certified is expensive, arduous and long. It also sometimes misses the point:

"In LEED, you need 26 of 69 possible points to get certified, and all points are weighted equally, even though some have far greater environmental benefits than others."

That translates to a bike rack being the same value as a million dollar HVAC system. Which do you think developers are choosing to install?

At the same time, LEED is what we've got. A bike rack is better than nothing. And the program is popular. There are now over 100,000 certified LEED professionals. This Spring, 11 architects from downtown Pittsburgh firm, Perfido Weiskopf Wagstaff + Goetell (PWWG), hopped on the bandwagon and achieved certification. It's a lot easier to build an LEED-certified building when you have an LEED-certified architect designing it.

"Most architects can already design green, but LEED-certification is a good marketing tool," says Anne J. Swager, Hon. AIA, executive director of AIA Pittsburgh.

Congratulations to PWWG for making Pittsburgh a greener place, at least in the eyes of marketers. In a city that's historically suffered in marketing itself, this is a good green step in the right direction.

PNC Financial - the greenest bank in the world

Pittsburgh's PNC Financial Services, which, after its acquisition of Cleveland based National City is now among the largest banks in the US, is, without a doubt, the greenest bank in the world. Not only does PNC have the most LEED certified bank branches, it even trademarked the term "Green Branch." Something even cooler for those of us who work in or do business in downtown Pittsburgh - PNC has recently announced that it will install what will be the largest "living wall" in North America, with a 2400 square foot green wall planned to go up on their headquarters, which is located at the corners of downtown's Fifth Avenue and Wood Street. Fast Company has more on this big win for downtown Pittsburgh.

Peduto Strikes Again

Councilman Peduto, seemingly our only area "green" political leader, has stepped forth once again to guide the city in a green direction. His proposed legislation to force every development receiving city incentives to reach LEED silver status or higher. While cities like Boston, are forcing every new large development to reach LEED status, Pittsburgh is making a very practical compromise here. If you want our money, play by our rules. If you don't play by those rules, you'll get fined a hefty 1% of construction costs. The legislation passed first vote in council yesterday.

The Post-Gazette also reports that there is also a state-wide initiative gaining ground for environmental standards for state-aided developments.

These are some great steps, and it seems like Council is actually moving ahead with passing the legislation smoothly (unlike back in 2008 or 2007 or even 2006 when Peduto unsuccessfully proposed similar legislation). Now the question will be how this affects deals already in the works? Can East Liberty have the 4th LEED-certified Target in the country? How about the North Shore amphitheater? And where would be if we had listened to Peduto years ago?

5 Green Projects Happening Right Now

For my first post on "Green is Good," I wanted to highlight some of the good things that are going on in Pittsburgh. I'm a firm believer that "Green is Good" and that we can spur the economy while saving the planet with the right planning and investment. As a country and a region, we've spent more than enough money investing in projects that are anti-Green. It's time for Green.

5 Exciting Projects Happening Right Now:

1. Dan Onorato has pledged to use his millions of green stimulus money on weatherizing buildings throughout the county.
   
2. Car-Free Fridays and in general a biking renaissance in the city of Pittsburgh spear-headed by bike-pgh
3. A great focus on our rivers with new docks planned and more interconnecting river-side trails.
   
4. Construction of the first LEED-certified Gold Sports Arena - even if it has a bad name.
   
5. Green Innovators. This long-term pet project of Senator Jim Ferlo is set to teach high school graduates to become "green collar" and work in the abundant green projects throughout the region.
   

That's a healthy list of things to be proud of in the Pittsburgh area. We have a long ways to go (which I'll be sure to point out in future posts) but there's a lot going on here. Anything you're excited about that I missed?

New Pittsburgh Penguins Arena, named after Coal Company, will aim for LEED Gold Certification

Earlier today Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl announced some of the city's green initiatives, as well as news that the Penguins arena, which will be named after local coal company Consol Energy, will aim for LEED gold certified status. I think this is great news for Pittsburgh which will now have two of the world's largest LEED certified buildings. Let's hope that the city gets back on track to being the leader in green building (I think we are now #7 in the US after being #1 several years back). In order to get back to #1 the city needs to adopt new building codes which will require developments of certain size to achieve at least LEED silver status. Other city's, like Grand Rapids, have seen dramatic results following the passage of green building legislation that requires larger buildings to be energy efficient. Bram posted some video footage of today's announcement, which took place at Market Square.