Earth Day Revelation: Pittsburgh A Pioneer in Green Buildings

PITTSBURGH, PA - Once known as the smoky city, Pittsburgh’s environmental renaissance has been dramatic enough to make other metropolitan areas green with envy. The evidence of that comes in the form of some of Pittsburgh’s most prominent buildings.

Many of those recognizable structures are green buildings that have been environmentally responsible and resource efficient from their initial planning and design, through construction and then operation. In advance of Earth Day on April 22, we take a look at the number of green building national firsts in which the Green Building Alliance asserts Pittsburgh can take pride.

First green convention center: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
The center uses natural daylight to light the building, natural ventilation to heat it and has a water reclamation system that reduces potable water use. It’s the world’s only convention center with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certifications of gold in new construction and platinum in existing building by the U.S. Green Building Council.

First green financial institution: PNC Firstside Center
This five-story building has an energy efficient air distribution system and its daylit interiors provide 90 percent of the building’s workers with an outdoor view. It’s silver LEED certified.

First green children’s museum: Pittsburgh Children’s Museum
Four-year-olds might not appreciate this fact, but it’s not just the first green children’s museum. It’s the nation’s largest silver LEED-certified museum.

First green welcome center in a public garden – Phipps Conservatory Welcome Center
This LEED-certified facility is powered 100 percent by wind generated off-site, has a computerized dome venting system that saves on HVAC costs and a sidewalk snowmelt system that uses waste-steam heat from the conservatory.

First green Smithsonian property: Senator John Heinz History Center
Not only is the center’s Smithsonian wing silver LEED-certified but its conservation center is gold LEED certified.

First green radio station: WYEP-FM
WYEP’s community broadcast center is silver LEED-certified.

First green food bank: Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank
Built on a former brownfield site in Duquesne, this 94,000 square-foot facility was the Pittsburgh region’s first LEED-certified building.

Convention center photo by Dmuth via Creative Commons; PNC Firstside Center by Allie Caufield via Creative Commons; Children's Museum photo via public domain; Phipps Conservatory photo by Daveynin via Creative Commons; Heinz History Center photo by Klaus Nahr via Creative Commons; Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank by Driving the Northeast via Creative Commons.