February 18, 2004—The Green Building Alliance (GBA) has announced that Pittsburgh is currently the greenest city in America, based on the number of Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) rated commercial/industrial buildings and square-footage within the city limits.
Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the LEED Green Building Rating System is a national standard to assess building environmental performance. Buildings qualify for one of four levels of LEED certification—Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Pittsburgh leads the nation with four LEED-certified projects totaling approximately 2.24 million square feet.
Pittsburgh’s LEED-certified buildings include the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, the first convention center to be certified green, New House Residence Hall at Carnegie Mellon University, PNC Firstside Center and KSBA Architects Office. Two additional LEED-certified projects are outside city limits but within the surrounding county, Siemens’ Westinghouse Fuel Cell Plant and Greater Pittsburgh Community Foodbank.
The nation’s first building was certified under LEED in 2000. In 2003, five percent of new commercial and high-rise construction was registered with LEED, totaling 139 billion square feet of space. This promises to escalate as decision makers recognize the long-term value added by green building practices. New York, Oregon and Maryland offer tax credits for new construction that meets LEED standards. The U.S. General Services Administration, the nation’s largest landlord which leases or owns over 8,000 buildings to provide workspace for over 1 million federal employees, requires that all new federal building projects meet the criteria for Silver LEED certification.
