Alliance of Pittsburgh building owners slashes carbon emissions by 45%

The Pittsburgh 2030 District, an alliance of building owners in the Pittsburgh area, says that it has reduced carbon emissions by 44.8% below baseline.

Begun in 2012 under the guidance of the Green Building Alliance (GBA), the Pittsburgh 2030 District encompasses more than 86 million sf of space within 556 buildings.

The project has created a savings of $205.8 million in energy and water costs, and 1.85 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions avoided since 2012, according to its 2022 Progress Report.

GBA provides participants with education, training, and guidance to further their progress, covering topics such as:

Conducting deep carbon retrofits on existing buildings to dramatically improve efficiency
Case studies of net zero carbon retrofits
Examples of whole building life cycle analysis
Embodied carbon
Facilitating building electrification to eliminate fossil fuel use, including replacing furnaces and boilers that run on natural gas with ground- or air-source heat pumps.
Thermal energy storage

Pittsburgh is the North American leader in amount of square footage committed to 2030 District goals. There are 22 international 2030 Districts in total.

Bold cantilevered designs are prevalent today, as developers and architects strive to maximize space, views, and natural light in buildings. Cantilevered structures, however, present a host of challenges for building teams, according to José R. Rivera, PE, Associate Principal and Director of Plumbing and Fire Protection with Lilker.