Ten years ago, going green was viewed as a hippie fad.
Today, an array of politicians, business leaders, labor advocates and environmentalists say going green, besides saving the environment, would shape national and global economies for generations to come, assure national security and create a million jobs by 2020, including thousands in dying steel towns throughout the rust belt.
"We've definitely come a long way from the so-called hippie fad," said Rebecca Flora, executive director of the Green Building Alliance in the South Side. "It's not a fad, which people thought it would be."
The green economy includes all varieties of what advocates call sustainable projects, including eco-friendly construction and renovations, the production and use of nontoxic products in households, and the research and development of alternative fuel and energy resources such as biofuels, wind and solar power, and fuel cells.
"What our economy is going to look like for the next 25 to 50 years may well be decided in the next five years," Gov. Ed Rendell said at a Good Jobs Green Jobs conference last month in Pittsburgh. "The future is right at our doorstep. We have to make sure that it gets done."
Pittsburgh, once the center of steel production but today a city with a dwindling population, hopes to lead the way.
The city is among the top in the nation with 23 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified buildings, including the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and the Senator John Heinz History Center. The LEED rating system, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, provides standards for environmentally sustainable construction.
Only Portland, Seattle, Chicago and Atlanta have more LEED-certified buildings than Pittsburgh, according to Green Building Alliance statistics. Statewide, there are 83 such buildings, second only to California with 130.
Ecological laws
In Pittsburgh, City Councilman Bill Peduto is pushing to require all new construction or renovation of more than 5,000 square feet to adhere to "Silver" level LEED certification for city-owned properties. It also would apply to construction projects that cost more than $2 million or receive tax-increment financing.
A public hearing and vote by full council is expected in June, Peduto said.
"It's a modest proposal, in looking at what other cities are mandating -- like Chicago and Dallas -- that all new buildings meet LEED certification," he said. "It's not a progressive agenda anymore. Now it's just a reform agenda."
More green buildings are being planned nationwide. Across the country, there are 22,000 such projects awaiting construction, said Rick Fedrizzi, the president and CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council.
"Over the next 30 to 50 years, all buildings will go green," Fedrizzi said. "We have had political revolutions, information revolutions and intellectual revolutions. Right now, this is the beginning of the green revolution."
Sustainable projects are appearing around the city.
In the South Side, Conservation Consultants Inc., which is housed in a green building, soon will become even greener, officials there said.
CCI will use $54,128 from the state Department of Environmental Protection to install a "green roof." The four-inch layer of vegetation will help capture and recycle at least 5,000 gallons of runoff water each year, and reduce energy bills and building emissions by as much as 15 percent.
Other green roofs have been installed at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, Heinz History Center, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens and the Shadyside Giant Eagle.
"The interest and demand in green roofs has overwhelmed me," said Melanie Tuck, a roof consultant in Mt. Lebanon who is planning CCI's project.
"This is the future," she said. "Where some of these things might have seemed like 2050, they are going to become mainstream. They are smarter, and the cost savings in the long run are just tremendous. A lot of people are starting to understand that."
Other green projects planned in Pittsburgh include a water-management system and geothermal heating and cooling system at Phipps and a geothermal heating and cooling system at Wesley African Methodist Episcopal Charities in the Hill District.
Using such sustainable features in buildings might one day become a requirement in Pittsburgh.
Matthew Smuts of the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, the city's first sustainable design coordinator, said the city offers low-interest loans to builders who promise to erect green buildings or add green renovations to existing buildings.
"We'll encourage people (to build green) at first and see how it works," he said. "It could become mandatory."
Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato said he is trying to attract green businesses, and is wooing a solar energy firm.
"Jobs and a clean environment do not have to be at odds," Onorato said at the green jobs conference. "You don't have to pick. You can have both. We can become a leader in the green movement."
The push for a green economy is gaining momentum in part because everyone is hopping on the bandwagon, advocates said.
For example, the Good Jobs Green Jobs conference was created through the unlikely partnership of the Sierra Club and the United Steelworkers. Military officials also support going green.
Marine Lt. Col. Mike Sweeney, who studies at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, said global competition for dwindling energy resources is a major threat to American security. He said Americans will have to become less reliant on foreign resources, and advocated alternative energy sources as a solution.
"I don't think we have a choice (in going green)," Sweeney said.
Larger text
Smaller text
Print this article
E-mail this article
