Green Building in the Pittsburgh Region

GBA's LEED Survey Report Now Available: The Green Building Alliance thanks all of you who took the time to provide insightful feedback on the USGBC's LEED Green Building Rating System. The results of this survey are documented in a report called "LEED-NC® The First Five Years: Report on the Greater Pittsburgh region’s experience using Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design for New Construction. This report and the USGBC's response can be viewed on the GBA Survey Website.

Pittsburgh's Green Story - Launched!: A unique new journalist's resource guide to the story behind Pittsburgh's dramatic environmental transformation was unveiled at the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) Annual Conference last month. This guide, called "pittsburghgreenstory.org," is a comprehensive Web-based multimedia tool that provides the context, history, background, interview sources, and graphics needed by reporters and journalists to write about Pittsburgh's dramatic urban and environmental renaissance from "the Smoky City" to "America's Most Livable City." Developed through a collaboration of the Green Building Alliance and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, pittsburghgreenstory.org is the only multimedia resource that examines the city's environmental history from both the macro and micro levels. It provids a broad perspective and detailed analysis of the issues that have shaped related policies and debates in this region. www.pittsburghgreenstory.org: The Environmental Transformation of an American Industrial City.

City's former Public Safety Building will be recycled: Hold the headache ball, keep the jackhammers at bay and don't alert the landfill. When demolition began on the former Public Safety Building in Downtown Pittsburgh, there won't be a need for any of them. More than 70 percent of its parts will be recycled, some of them into a new park that will open on the site in the spring. Last May, PNC Financial Services paid the city $4.2 million for the seven-story building. PNC's goal is to extend the campus of PNC Firstside Center with a new 1.5-acre park for its 1,500 employees, designed with their input. The privately owned park also will be open to the public, providing a welcome patch of green space in a corner of Downtown that sorely lacks it. Patricia Lowry, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Going Green: Pitt's Mascaro Program Among First in Field: Pittsburgh is also home to one of the first academic-driven green engineering and construction programs of its kind. The University of Pittsburgh, through its School of Engineering, created the Mascaro Sustainability Initiative last year. The program, whose startup was funded by financial gifts from Mr. Mascaro, the Heinz Endowments and the George and Eva Bevier Estate, seeks to cultivate new green construction and sustainable water-use technologies. Pittsburgh Business Times October 29, 2004

Wind Power, Jobs and Pennsylvania -Manufacturing rebound may literally be blowing in the wind: As global demand for wind energy grows, U.S. firms stand ready to make the parts and equipment: The future of two industries traditionally at odds -- new and flourishing wind power, older and stumbling manufacturing -- could help each other in the coming years if a recent series of multimillion-dollar deals are any indication. As the percentage of power generated by wind increases, industry experts and manufacturers say energy companies will turn increasingly to U.S. manufacturers to supply the nuts and bolts for the high-tech turbines sprouting up along the country's windiest ridges. So far, Europe has dominated the manufacturing of wind power equipment because it is a well-established energy source there. In Pennsylvania, Gov. Ed Rendell announced late last month that industry giant Gamesa Corp., of Spain, will base its U.S headquarters and East Coast development offices in Philadelphia and it also will open a manufacturing facility in the state that will create hundreds of manufacturing jobs. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette October 24, 2004

Events

Brown Bag Case Study - Pittsburgh Glass Center: Kevin Gannon of dggp architects will present a case study on the Pittsburgh Glass Center at a GBA brown bag. Located in the Friendship neighborhood, this building is comprised of an adaptive reuse of an existing structure and an addition of new construction. This green building make use of natural ventilation and light while heat from the hotshop area is recovered and used to heat the rest of the spaces. Don't miss the opportunity to learn how this AIA Design Award winner is also an innovative green building! Please join us, Friday December 17th, 11:30- 1:00 at the CCI Center on Pittsburgh's South Side. For further details, www.gbapgh.org/events.asp

Renewable Energy for Businesses: Even if you think you know all about renewables, come to this no cost afternoon workshop to learn creative ways that you can make these technologies work for your organization. In the Loop is partnering with PennFuture to bring you this workshop, including a networking reception afterward to be held at Duquesne University. You'll receive a thorough overview of the issues surrounding the use of renewable energy and hear from purchasers about their experiences, and have the opportunity to meet some suppliers. It all happens Nov 11th, so save the date! Go to www.pennfuture.org to register.

Building Envelope Design Preventing Moisture Intrusion and Mold Workshop. Presented by AIA Pittsburgh and the Construction Specification Institute Present, this workshop is worth 5 AIA/CES HSW Learning Units. It will be held Tuesday, November 30, 2004 from 8:30 a.m.– 3:15 p.m. at the Engineers Society of Western Pennsylvania. RSVP by November 15 for a discounted rate! To register online at https://www.123signup.com/register?id=fqtbx For more information, please visit www.aiapgh.org/calendar_CES.html or call AIA Pittsburgh at 412-471-9548.

Champions of Sustainability - "Sustainable Stapleton": The Stapleton airport re-use project breaks the old pattern by demonstrating that sustainability is economically viable and contributes to the private sector bottom-line, while calling in to question 50 years of single land-use development and automobile dependent design. The event is hosted by: Sustainable Pittsburgh, Green Building Alliance, Riverlife Task Force and Urban Land Institute.Featured speaker: Melissa Knott, Director of Sustainability for Forest City Stapleton. Please register in advance to attend by calling Sustainable Pittsburgh at (412) 258-6642 or email to info@sustainablepittsburgh.org The event takes place Thursday, December 9th from 8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. in the Monongahela Room at the Omni William Penn Hotel. Admission is free.

News from the USGBC & Abroad

New LEED Cost Study: This major study for the U.S. General Services Administration defines costs associated with the US Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) ratings. Two building types - new construction courthouses and Federal Building modernizations - are modeled against two scenarios for each LEED rating, identifying varying costs of construction, design, and documentation requirements. Read the publication

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.
64 S. 14th St. Pittsburgh, PA 15203 412-431-0709 www.gbapgh.org