Betting on Green Building Products in Pennsylvania

Transcript

HOST
Many in Western Pennsylvania like to say that Pittsburgh steel once built America. Now, a growing number of people say the region can once again provide the material for the country's next building boom, and do it in an environmentally sensitive way. Reporter Reid Frazier went to Pittsburgh's David L. Lawrence Convention Center this week to find out how Western Pennsylvania might become a hub for green building materials.

FRAZIER Say the words: 'Green Building' and what comes to mind for many is a building with walls made of straw, an underground hut, or something having to do with mud or leaves. But some in Western Pennsylvania say another image should come to mind: dollar signs, and lots of them. Spurred by high energy costs and rising environmental awareness, the green building industry is booming. Americans will spend nearly $60 billion on green building by the end of the decade. That's a six-fold increase from 2004.

Rebecca Flora is the executive director of the Pittsburgh-based Green Building Alliance. she was in downtown Pittsburgh recently to tout a new initiative. Her organization wants to bring more of the green building products industry to Western Pennsylvania. Flora says the old images that people have of green buildings can and should be updated.

FLORA: It's not straw huts, I think we've gotten past that notion. It really is very beautiful, very high performing, very elegant buildings of all types, it's really about the performance of the building, materials in the building and how the building can be more comfortable for the occupants. I think we've left the '70s, we've left the '60s, it's now 2000, it's a new century and I think Green Building is finally getting the recognition and the credibility by the exponential growth we've been experiencing.

FRAZIER: Flora's group has been fostering the concept of green building for more than a decade, and it's paying dividends. The building where she spoke was the first green convention center of the country when it was completed in 2003. A few blocks away, plans are in the works for the new PNC Tower, which will be the tallest green building in the country when it's done. Flora is banking on Western Pennsylvania becoming a leader in the green building product industry. The region is close to booming East Coast real estate markets. It has a large building products industry. And it benefits from the technological innovations of its universities like Carnegie Mellon, Pitt and Penn State. The $1.25 million Green Building Products Initiative will provide research and development grants and direct assistance to local companies trying to market green building products. Money is coming from the state and from a $250,000 grant from the Heinz Endowments. Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, said the goal is to make Western Pennsylvania a center of green building activity at a time when the market is heating up.

ONORATO: Whoever grabs the industry first might be in a position to be a leader for a long time. A lot of these companies are household names already in Southwestern Pennsylvania. If you look at the long history in southwestern Pennsylvania, from glass to steel to other industries, why not look to the future of the next big industry coming to the United States and that is products for building green.

FRAZIER: To emphasize how practical the green building industry has become, a handful of Pennsylvania-based suppliers showcased their wares. They showed off everything from floor tile to windows, to ventilation and urinals. The products look much like their conventional counterparts, but, there is a difference.

SMITH: This system, on the average will lower the tonnage required downstream about 50 percent.

LUSTY: It could be up to 15 percent more energy efficient.

CARTER: It's 85 percent water savings.

FRAZIER: That's Russ Smith of Berner International ventilation, Greg Lusty of Traco Windows, and Bob Carter of Zurn Plumbing Products. Carter was showcasing a urinal that uses just a pint of water per flush.

CARTER: The up-front cost is a little bit more however the water savings over the life of the building if you extrapolate that 20 or 30 years is tremendous. In the long run you are saving and also conserving resources.

FRAZIER: Despite the cost savings, Flora said the public has been slow to warm to some green products.

FLORA: We have this product out there that we often have a hard time selling, it's called a waterless urinal. We're trying to educate the industry that they don't smell and can save you a tremendous amount of water in your building which is not only good for your bottom line but water is one of our most important resources.

FRAZIER: Flora hopes that as her industry clears these hurdles, more and more people will see the value of building green.

FLORA: As this market grows nationally, we in Western Pennsylvania have this opportunity to grow this industry to grow the green building products industry and for Pennsylvania to be a leader in supplying this industry, so it's a huge economic development strategy.

For The Allegheny Front, This is Reid Frazier.