Many worshippers can recite by heart the second line from Psalm 23, which begins “He makes me lie down in green pastures.”
Pastors may soon have “greener” churches to show them.
In June, the Archdiocese of New York quietly became a member of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) ”“ specifically its building commission lodged at St. Joseph”™s Seminary in Yonkers that oversees construction and renovation projects on church properties throughout the region.
Based in Washington, D.C., the USGBC sponsors the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program (LEED), which gives property owners a benchmark to build and operate “green” buildings that have a minimal impact on the environment.
Besides energy efficiency, the program takes into account water use, the selection of materials and indoor air quality among other factors.
Malcolm Pirnie Inc., a White Plains-based wastewater and environmental engineering company, became the first business in the lower Hudson Valley to join the nascent USGBC in August 2000, more than four years after Manhattan-based Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects became the first in New York to do so.
After Hastings-on-Hudson-based Sustainable Design Collaborative L.L.C. signed on, it would be more than two years before another Westchester company would join ”“ KG&D Architects in Mount Kisco.
Corporate Westchester appears to be gravitating toward the gospel of green these days, however ”“ more than 30 companies have joined USGBC this year, a slower pace than neighboring Fairfield County, Conn., but ahead of the combined total of its Hudson Valley neighbors of Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Ulster counties.
USGBC organizational dues are assessed on a sliding scale, ranging from $300 annually for nonprofit organizations and professional firms with less than $250,000 in yearly revenue, to $4,000 for the largest contractors.
Today, nearly 80 companies in Westchester County hold membership in USGBC, a list that includes some of the region”™s most prominent employers like PepsiCo Inc. and Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc., but omits IBM Corp. and others that pride themselves on their environmental initiatives.
Individual contractors have been slower to become accredited under USGBC”™s LEED programs ”“ through mid-September, just 40 were LEED accredited.
Still, the group”™s mix has broadened beyond the original core of architects, energy-efficiency consultants and building contractors. For instance, the Ulster Park children”™s furniture maker Community Playthings joined in May; two months later, Danbury Hospital in Fairfield County joined.
“Green is booming,” noted USGBC in a recently published strategic plan for the next five years. “Being green has become mainstream.”
Even as its works to accelerate demand for green buildings and produce data to support its goals, the organization stated it is weighing a shift in emphasis from its core mission on individual buildings toward broader aspects of sustainability: how buildings contribute to climate change, and the concept of social equity that pays dividends in communities in addition to profits corporations take.
Perhaps it was just that social-equity ethic that had the Archdiocese of New York herding its flock into USGBC”™s pasture this summer.
