PHILADELPHIA, PA - Philadelphia does a poor job when it comes to green building, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council said yesterday in a report that outlines steps for improvement. The advocacy group identified numerous barriers to green construction in the city, the greatest being a "lack of political will and strong leadership at the top levels of city government." Among other impediments were an outdated zoning code and what Sandy Wiggins, author of the 21-page report, called a "not-my-job mentality" among employees of the city, which he said has no department "that is a champion of the environment."
The report, based on a year of research, suggested dozens of solutions, from establishing a cabinet-level sustainability position to requiring that all municipal buildings go green to their very rooftops, roofs constructed as mini-gardens that insulate the building below rather than made of traditional materials. It also recommended a "green concierge" service to walk projects through city departmental approvals, and a revision of parking requirements to encourage "car-reduction strategies."
"We're at a great moment of change," said Patrick Starr, regional vice president of the PEC, a nonprofit that has advocated greening the region's buildings and landscapes. Starr introduced the report on the 24th floor of the Cira Centre, where SCA Americas has built one of the city's greenest office spaces, awash in daylight. A receptive Mayor Nutter promised to study the report on the drive back to City Hall in his hybrid car. "You have our collective commitment that we will follow the strategies and techniques you have laid out here," he said. Nutter also renewed his pledge to create an office of sustainability. "It is a commitment that will be kept."
The PEC and a range of other organizations and businesses began researching how to make development in the city greener after realizing that Philadelphia fell far behind some other urban areas in a 2006 ranking by SustainLane, an independent company that issued a sustainability report card on the nation's 50 largest cities.
As of January, Washington led the nation with 172 projects certified by a U.S. Green Building Council rating system known as LEED, for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Even Grand Rapids, Mich., with 63 projects, topped Philadelphia's 42. "It's a cute little city. I love it," Starr said of Grand Rapids. "But when they're beating us on this, that really irks me."
The new report noted that buildings offer great potential for change. Nearly half the greenhouse-gas emissions that contribute to global warming come from constructing and operating buildings, the report said, and they account for 76 percent of all energy consumption in the United States. The report detailed financial incentives to building green, maintaining that such strategies have, on average, a 20-to-1 return on investment. "It's a great place to begin to change the sustainability equation," said Wiggins, founder of Consilience L.L.C., a national consulting and real estate development firm based here.
Key among the recommendations was code reform. "We're all familiar with the plumbing code and the infamous example of the waterless urinals in the Comcast Center," Wiggins said. (Installing them required a variance in the code and stirred up a battle between the plumbers union and the developer.)
Another was revamping the city's permit process to speed up green construction, to which Nutter rapidly agreed. "We should be able to issue permits within the lifetime of the people who are proposing" projects, the mayor said with a wry laugh. Councilman James Kenney said he, too, was "committed to making this happen." He listed other green p
Source: Philly.com