Green Building in the Region

Coro is PA's First LEED- CI space: On December 16th, the USGBC awarded the Coro Center for Civic Leadership a LEED for Commercial Interiors Gold certification for their tenant fit out in the Pittsburgh's Terminal Way Properties. Coro's LEED-CI certification is significant in the Pittsburgh market as an example of a green tenant fit out within an existing historic structure. Congratulations to Coro, Jendoco Construction, Renaissance 3 Architects, Terminal Properties and the rest of the project team on this major accomplishment. For further details on the Coro project click here or read about it in the Post-Gazette.

Fall Issue of GBA's Cornerstone Available Online: This issue features a case study of DEP California Office Building, Green Spotlight on Cost & Value of LEED with Alan Traugott, Helping to Prevent Flooding: A Rational Method for Brownfield Development with Deborah Lange and an update on GBA's Public Policy program. Read it online!

Pittsburgh's Green Buildings Featured in the Economist: Most people are not used to thinking of large buildings as vast, energy-guzzling machines. But that is what they are. In America, buildings account for 65% of electricity consumption, 36% of total energy use and 30% of greenhouse-gas emissions. So making buildings more energy-efficient could have a significant impact on energy policy, notes Rebecca Flora of the Green Building Alliance, a group that promotes sustainable architecture. That is a key goal of the “green architecture” movement, which is changing the way buildings are designed, built and run. Read "The Rise of the Green Building" in the Economist, Dec 2nd 2004.

Pittsburgh, Portland and Chicago - Who's Green? Pittsburgh has become one of the country's leaders in producing green buildings with almost no local government help, according to Rebecca Flora, director of the Green Building Alliance, one of the first green-building advocacy groups in the country. Known during its industrial heyday as "hell with the lid off," Pittsburgh now is second only to Portland in green buildings under way or completed. Most notable is the first Leed-certified convention center in the country -- billed as the "largest green building in the world" -- where last year's Greenbuild conference was held. Read "Eco-friendly builders applaud Portland's 30-year green history"

Pittsburgh Green Buildings featured in Costing Case Studies: Castcon Stone, Inc, Coro Center for Civic Leadership, Siemens Westinghouse Fuel Cell Facility, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, CMU New House Residence Hall, Felician Sisters Convent & Sacred Heart High school, were six of eleven buildings featured in the Nov-Dec 2004 edition of Deign Cost Data magazine which focuses on Building Green in America. Read more at www.dcd.com/issue_archive/current_issue.html

Cool Space Awards: Cool Space Locator presents the first annual Cool Space Awards to celebrate Southwestern Pennsylvania's unique urban spaces. The mission of the Cool Space Awards program is to celebrate and highlight the cool spaces in our midst. CSL's long term goal is to create excitement about cool spaces that will encourage adaptive reuse of urban locations. Highlights of the program include a judges panel whose participants have contributed significantly to the economic and physical transformation of our communities, as well as an "April Cools Day" party on Friday, April 1st, where winning spaces will be awarded and photographic layouts of those spaces displayed. Nominations are due by February 11, 2005. For further details, www.coolspacelocator.com

Giant Eagle and Vanguard Group Recognized as Energy Star Leaders: EPA Region 3 recognized The Vanguard Group in Valley Forge, and Giant Eagle in Pittsburgh, for demonstrating superior energy management and environmental leadership as part of the Energy Star Program. There are now over 266 companies and organizations who formally joined the Energy Star Program as partners in Pennsylvania—manufacturers, retailers, schools,
nonprofit and government groups and utilities.

Wharton School Study Finds Greening Good Investment: Investments in greening and in vacant land management can increase property values by as much as 30 percent according to "The Determinants of Neighborhood Transformation in Philadelphia - Identification and Analysis," a study undertaken by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania's Real Estate Department. The author of the study, Susan M. Wachter, says the study looks at the entire city, and it is anticipated that the findings will be applicable to other cities throughout the United States. Three key findings were noted in this preliminary report:

• Neighborhood blocks with higher concentrations of unmanaged vacant lots displayed lower house prices.
• Tree plantings showed a significantly positive effect on housing prices - increasing value close to nine percent (this equates to about a $3,400 premium on the standard).
• There is a 64 percent rise in housing prices for neighbors of vacant lots that have been cleaned and greened. On the standard house, this would amount to a $24,000 increase.

Read the story in the Philadelphia Business Journal. Thanks to the Holston & Crisci's Environment Digest for this announcement.

Perspectives: Bad public transit = A Lousy Local Economy: Put simply, our ability to sustain or improve public transportation affects all of us -- whether or not we actually ever board a public transit vehicle. Access to convenient and reliable public transportation is essential for the region's economic health and prosperity for many reasons, some of which aren't typically considered. Read about it in the Post-Gazette

News from Abroad

LEED Comments Period Open to Public: The U.S. Green Building Council is now soliciting comments on the first draft of the LEED for New Construction Rating System (LEED-NC), version 2.2. Anyone can comment on this draft, after registering a site user profile on the USGBC Web site. The USGBC will respond to all comments, and post the comments and responses to the USGBC Web site. If changes are made to the draft after this first comment period, a second public comment period will be held for any changes made. The resulting draft will go before the USGBC membership for balloting. The official public release of the rating system is expected by fall 2005. If you would like to participate in this comment period, click here for more information. The first public comment period will run through Tuesday, February 1, 2005 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.

Building Green, Inc. Names Top 10 Green Building Products of 2004: A new list of the top 10 green building products of 2004 includes products ranging from those that convert sunlight into usable energy, a new, innovative elevator and an air-source heat pump. The list was compiled by BuildingGreen Inc., publisher of GreenSpec Directory and Environmental Building News. See the article at www.buildinggreen.com

GSA Releases LEED Cost Study: The US General Services Administration (GSA) commissioned a study that estimates the costs of developing green federal facilities using the US Green Building Council’s LEED™ rating system. The report provides a detailed and structured review of both the hard- and soft-cost implications of achieving LEED ratings for two GSA building types, using GSA’s established design standards as the point of comparison. The estimated percent change in hard costs for the new courthouse were: Certified: Low (-0.4%), High (+1.0%). Silver: Low (-0.03%), High (+4.4%). Gold: Low (+1.4%), High (+8.1%).] To download study, visit www.wbdg.org Environmental Design + Construction, Nov 04, p 12.

Milwaukee Will Encourage Green Roofs for Stormwater Management: The Milwaukee Initiative for Sustainable Development will encourage builders to contain storm water runoff through "green" roofing techniques. Green Roofs will be obligatory to those seeking tax increment financing and other subsidies. Commissioner Marcoux stresses, "If you get public money, you should be doing things for the public good." Learn more about this story here

America's Urban Forests Make Environmental and Economic Sense: Frederick Law Olmsted had little idea how prescient he was when he told the City of New York in 1872 that the midtown Manhattan park he was busy creating would serve as the "lungs of the city." Today, the urban forests found within city parks across the country serve not only as recreational and social centers, but also as organic sponges for various forms of pollution and as storehouses of carbon dioxide to help offset global warming. For example, Chicago's urban tree canopy removes 15 metric tons of carbon monoxide, 84 metric tons of sulfur dioxide, 89 metric tons of nitrogen dioxide, 191 metric tons of ozone and 212 metric tons of particulates, according to David Nowak of the US Forest Service. Though scattered individual trees can absorb pollution, urban forests provide the most bang for a city's buck. "Parks with higher proportions of their area covered by healthy trees will provide the greatest impacts," says Nowak. Chicago's urban forest canopy, which covers roughly 11 percent of the city's total land, saves the municipal government more than $1 million every year in what would otherwise be spent on traditional pollution mitigation efforts. Nowak estimates that the removal of air pollution by New York City's existing tree cover saves taxpayers as much as $10 million each year. Read the story in BIPER USA.

The Green Building Alliance is a nonprofit organization that integrates environmentally responsible -- and high performance --design, construction and operating practices into the Greater Pittsburgh market. As a result, GBA will increase the human health, economic, environmental, and social value of new and existing development.
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