Director's Job: Talking Business Leaders Into Going Green: As featured in a recent Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article, Rebecca Flora, executive director of the Green Building Alliance (GBA), discusses green building development, the effect it is having on Pittsburgh, and the organization's current efforts.

Roundtable Discussions on Building Comfort & Indoor Environmental Quality: GBA is organizing two focus group discussions based on information gathered from building research and other sources. Rather than addressing general notions of green building and sustainability, these roundtables, which will be facilitated by Dewey & Kaye, seek to concentrate on more specific issues, such as:

How much do people think comfort and indoor environmental quality affect the bottom line of a business? What features of a building have the most impact in this regard? How can connections be proven? For instance, what data exists from standard business practices and how could that data be shared? What information is needed by those who set building program criteria so that they can most effectively include comfort and indoor quality issues in related conversations?

The breakfast meetings will be held on Tuesday, November 1 and Thursday, November 3. Next month's E-Update will announce how to access the results, which will be available to anyone who is interested.

Pittsburgh Civic Design Coalition (CDC) Visits Chattanooga: The Pittsburgh CDC is a recently-formed group of seven organizations that are working collaboratively to promote quality design as a defining feature of the Pittsburgh region. As part of the Coalition's first Civic Design Exchange, a number of Pittsburgh's key business, civic and government leaders will visit Chattanooga from October 26-28 to learn about that city's exemplary revitalization efforts. Selected partially due to its similar size and history, Chattanooga also has a reputation for successfully balancing community development, growth management and environmental stewardship.

Pittsburgh Mayor Appoints Clean Pittsburgh Commission Members: Mayor Tom Murphy held a swearing-in ceremony for members of the Clean Pittsburgh Commission this week, which is to serve as a resource for community groups and individuals working to clean up their neighborhoods. The commission, whose members include representatives from departments of the mayor's office, Public Safety, and Public Works, along with non-profit environmental organizations and local neighborhood groups, will also implement litter prevention and awareness programs. For more information, contact the commission's chair, David Mazza, at 412-431-4449 ext. 209 or email davem@ccicenter.org.

Register Now for LEED-NC ver. 2.1: The U.S. Green Building Council encourages all projects that are not registered with the LEED Rating System but working with LEED-NC Version 2.1 to register now. The USGBC member balloting of the LEED-NC version 2.2 ends on October 27, 2005, with approval expected shortly afterward. The last day to register projects under LEED-NC version 2.1 will be October 28, 2005. To do so, click here. For additional information regarding LEED-NC registration, please email info@usgbc.org.

The Green Building Alliance's E-Update is provided as a free, monthly news brief service of sustainable development activity in the Greater Pittsburgh region.  The information contained in the E-Update is drawn from the organization, related groups and reliable news source.  Accuracy of information is based on its original source and news coverage does not imply endorsement by the Green Building Alliance.

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