How Green Are My Building Standards

Having long been in the business of handling the green, PNC Bank is now committed to going green.

PNC, a Pittsburgh-based bank, has just opened what it calls the country's first environmentally friendly branches in Neptune and Toms River. In addition to letting in natural light, the buildings

capture rainwater for their toilets and will have electrical charging stations for alternatively fueled vehicles. The branches were built according to the U.S. Green Building Council's guidelines for site planning, protection of water supplies, energy efficiency, conservation of materials and indoor environmental quality.

A branch office, the small local face of a distant corporation, is an ideal place to experiment. As the PNC example suggests, environmentally sound construction is a movement for all types of companies.

Peter Templeton, director of the Green Building Council's Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) program, says his group is working with all types of entities, from private companies to state agencies. It is promoting the green-building concept and certifying facilities as green under standards that define silver, gold or platinum levels. The council has been active since 1993, says Templeton, but many of the concepts that make up environmental design or green building have been around for decades.