The Growing Green Scene

The boathouse sits over Lake MacLeod, a cold, damp and poorly insulated structure. But Neal and Tim Shipley liked the convenience of a dock extending over the lake and they knew the boathouse added value to their development property, Lake MacLeod, in Pine Township. But who wanted to spend the day fishing in a cold building?

As the Shipleys and friend, Dan Preston, investigated ways to insulate the building, they stumbled across a company in Derry Township, Pa, that made structured insulated panels (SIPS). The SIPS, which consist of eight inches of foam sandwiched between two pieces of strand board, are energy efficient and two and a half times stronger than traditional construction panels when it comes to crushing force. Houses built with SIPS sustain less damage if a tree falls on it. And when it comes to lateral force—think hurricane-force winds—SIPS are five times more resilient than traditional structures.

Preston and the Shipleys were so impressed with the advantages of SIPS, that when they learned the company was for sale, they bought it and renamed it SureTight.

EPP 101

While SureTight is one of 1,800 companies in the region that manufacture building products, its SIPS are distinctive, known as green or environmentally preferred products (EPP). EPPs have one of five characteristics: they’re made from recycled products, or bio-based, or low in chemical emissions, naturally or minimally processed, or use little energy.

While it’s estimated that there are 100 projects using EPPs in the region, the Green Building Alliance (GBA) isn’t certain how many manufacturers actually produce EPPs. But it their hope that more Western Pennsylvanian companies take the lead, building on Pittsburgh’s green reputation and making the region a center for green building products.

Most large companies, like Zurn and PPG, have at least one EPP line while companies such as Eat n Park are getting into the act with plans to use biodiesel made from its used cooking oil to fuel its catering vehicles. According to the report Green Building Products: Verifying and Defining the Opportunity for Western Pennsylvania issued by the GBA in November 2006, no other U.S. city is as far along as Pittsburgh in becoming a center for EPPs.

"It is widely recognized that the southwestern Pennsylvania region is at the vanguard of the national market shift towards green building.Over the past two years, Pittsburgh has been cited for its green building leadership in The Economist, Fortune, USA Today and The New York Times,” reads the report. Due to the leadership of the region in green building, the area is in a unique position to take advantage of the growing interest in building green. "Western Pennsylvania is the green building product manufacturing center and the GBA is poised to support that reality for years to come,” it says.

A Communal Greening

“I love what they’re doing. What Rebecca Flora [GBA executive director] has done, positioning Southwestern Pennsylvania as the green building capital, is great. People are trying to make Pittsburgh a tech capital, but every state has [a tech capital] and we are competing with those,” says Miranda Berner, a project manager with Berner International, a 50-year old New Castle company which produces environmentally-friendly air curtains. “Green building products allows us to be distinctive and provide some real value for Western Pennsylvania to continue to take off economically,” she adds.

Flora notes that she often fields calls from other cities, impressed with GBA’s work with a desire to support a similar plan. They are keeping an eye on Pittsburgh’s progress, and progress is being made.

The GBA outlined four ways to aid this transformation:
1) A green building product industry network will form in the next few months to foster growth in the EPP sector.
2) An investment council will pair investors with groups interested in manufacturing EPPs.
3) The GBA will engage universities and foundations into formal partnerships to develop new EPP technology.
4) And the GBA will serve as overall coordinator for the transfer of information.

“We have several competitive assets," says Flora who cites the national recognition the leadership of western Pennsylvania has achieved in green building. “The amount of innovation going on here—research grants and related type of R&D activity—is quite high.”

For example, the University of Pittsburgh was one of the first in the nation to offer a master’s degree in green construction while Carnegie Mellon University has advanced degrees in sustainable design. From 1990 to 2004, both universities, along with local companies, garnered 2,700 patents for EPP technology.

Planting Roots Here

After researching the market, Preston and the Shipleys discovered the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast would benefit from SIPS. While their biggest market is along the Mississippi, the company never considered moving their headquarters from Wexford, Pa., or their manufacturing operations from Greensburg, Pa.

Preston likes the area because of its proximity to many sources of transportation. The Greensburg plant is near interstate trucking, rail and barge transportation. For a company hoping to sell its environmentally friendly products to construction firms along the Mississippi River, easy access to rivers is a bonus. And, the local government and nonprofits support green building. In fact, the GBA hopes to lure more firms to realize its dream of an economic center for EPPs.

According to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), Pittsburgh ranks third in the number of green buildings—behind Seattle and Portland, Ore—with 17 LEED certified buildings. Building on this reputation makes it easier for Western Pennsylvania to get the word out about its commitment to green building products.

Rich Overmoyer of GSP Consulting, who served as project manager on GBA’s report on EPPs, notes that many people already contribute to green by buying Energy Star certified appliances. While many companies don’t know how to go green, it’s easier than they think, he says.

SureTight’s SIPS are green in several ways. First to make the strand board, the company uses wood scraps that are unusable for other projects. Also, insulated panels make a structure more energy efficient. And, the glue used for the SIPS is water-based, posing no health consequences.

Another example of an EPP is Berner International’s air curtains, a door system that uses steady bursts of air to create a seal, keeping cold air out and warm air in (or vice versa in the summertime) for box stores and retailers. The result? Big savings on heating and cooling bills.

Berner says that many companies in Western Pennsylvania already use recycled material, making them EPP manufactures. Talk to her at one of the monthly green drinks events, where architects, engineers, manufacturers and anyone interested in green building get together, and she’ll rattle off a list of local companies who use recycled products because they’re cheaper than new.

“The construction industry has this idea that green is going to cost them a lot of money,” Berner says. Although the initial costs may be more, an investment in green building products pays off as companies reap more of a profit from them.

Why wait to convert from traditional to green? Eventually all companies will have to be green, Overmoyer says. Within the next few years, the market for EPPs is projected to increase from $10 billion to $60 billion.

Preston, who serves as SureTight’s vice president of marketing, knows first hand about the boom in EPPs. Just the other day, he heard that the housing construction market is in a downturn and the leading housing construction firms are seeing huge loses in sales of new homes. Many manufacturers can’t sell their products. Yet SureTight has so many orders that they are busy for the next quarter fulfilling them. Which gives a whole new meaning to going green.