Walls & Ceilings Architect/October 2007

the GREEN thumb BY J.M. SYKEN LEED Update: Take Two, Part Two of becoming the ﬁrst LEED certiﬁed and/or “Green” building in town. Although 17 PNC branches had previously achieved the lowest level of LEED certiﬁcation, Certiﬁed (formerly Bronze) using volume certiﬁcation, PNC is planning on a “cookie-cutter” branch plan to achieve LEED Silver certiﬁcation for over 100 branches in the three states they serve. Signiﬁcant efforts are being Five variations of the 3,700 made to more easily allow square-foot “footprint” of residential buildings to be each branch will be includLEED-certiﬁed. ed, requiring PNC to submit “scorecards” and documentation for each branch building based on a scaled fee. However, PNC may consolidate its documentation submittals for same and/or similar features in all the branches seeking LEED certiﬁcation. Upon submittal, the USGBC audits all submissions and chooses speciﬁc buildings and features to scrutinize in detail. Only then, will they issue a “Portfolio” certiﬁcation. Since every branch will be located Last month, in part one, we took a look at what’s been on a different site with differing topoggoing on with the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) raphy, site conditions etc., PNC has foregone seeking Sustainable Sites (SS) green building rating/certiﬁcation program since the ﬁrst credits/points under LEED. Rather, it LEED Update article appeared in this column in September is focusing on those elements which are most duplicated in each branch: indoor air quality (IAQ), water use reduction, LEED and the progress of the LEED 2005. The USGBC announced that it daylight and energy optimization. for Homes (LEED-H) program. planned to go from only 600 LEEDThe Portfolio Program is not limitcertified projects (as of November ed to LEED-NC (new construction & 2006) to 100,000 commercial projLEED LITE major renovation). On the contrary, ects and one million homes by 2010. To achieve its aggressive goals, the it will be used for the operations & The “2030 Challenge” seeks to reduce USGBC was not about to take any maintenance (O&M) of existing operating energy for new buildings half-measures. A year earlier, at Greenbuildings under LEED-EB (existing by 50 percent, along with “carbonbuild ’05, the USGBC announced its buildings). The University of Californeutral” buildings by 2030. This intentions to create the Portfolio Pronia, Santa Barbara (UCSB) is seeking accelerated agenda was announced gram to allow for more efﬁcient LEED Portfolio certiﬁcation each year of a at Greenbuild ’06 in Denver, Colo. certiﬁcation of corporations, instituminimum of ﬁve of its hundreds of where “global warming” was the main tions etc., who build, own and operate existing buildings under LEED-EB. topic of discussion. Talk about action multiple buildings based on volume. For any/all new buildings, the UCSB speaking louder than words, the CasAt Greenbuild ’06 the g roup has instituted a policy of a minimum cadia Region Green Building Council announced the launching of the PortLEED Silver certiﬁcation. (CRGBC ) announced their “Living folio Program, with pilot projects for Under the pilot phase of the PortBuilding Challenge,” challenging the the program to begin in 2007. folio Program, six universities, three USGBC and the green building movePNC Bank, a subsidiary of PNC real estate ﬁrms, two banking institument as a whole to move beyond the Financial Services Group based in tions and the California Dept. of Gencurrent pinnacle, LEED Platinum cerPittsburgh, Pa., is participating in the eral Services are participating. LEED tiﬁcation, to this higher standard. This pilot phase of the program. In many of certiﬁcation will include: LEED-NC, month, we’ll continue our review of the small towns throughout PennsylLEED-EB, LEED-CI (commercial the world of LEED with a look at how vania, New Jersey and Ohio, the local interiors), LEED-CS (core & shell). the USGBC intends to mass market PNC bank branch has a good chance 40 | Walls & Ceilings Architect | October 2007

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Walls & Ceilings Architect/October 2007

Contents Trade News Silver Certiﬁed Airtight The Men of Steel Thinking Thermal Firestop 101 ICFs Create a Tight Envelope The Finish Line The Green Thumb Cracking the Code

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