Going from Green to Greener… and Winning Gold!

The Pittsburgh Green Workplace Challenge (GWC) awarded Pashek Associates first place in a competition to put sustainable practices into action in the workplace. The Pittsburgh Green Workplace Challenge is a yearlong competition for organizations to track and measure performance in energy, water, waste and transportation initiatives. The competition encourages businesses, municipalities, universities and non-profits of all sizes to strive to become increasingly green.

Competing in the small business category, Pashek Associates racked up 659 points, spurred in friendly competition with another design firm, evolve:EA, which collected 642 points and finished in second place. evolve:EA took first place last year, and our two firms pushed each other even more this year, trading the lead repeatedly in the last few weeks. FedEx Ground won in the large business category, and DMI Companies took first in the medium business category.

Together, all the GWC competitors saved enough energy to power 3,308 average U.S. homes for a year (or $3.02 million in cost savings). The competitors saved as much water as is typically used by 57 U.S. households in a year.

“Pashek Associates was excited to compete in the GWC for the second year in a row,” the firm’s VP of Sustainability, Sara Thompson, said. “We are even more excited to be invited to join the team of Pittsburgh companies now entering the ENERGY STAR National Building Competition to battle it out against other cities from around the country.”

To compete in the GWC, businesses and other organizations had to demonstrate and document their efforts to use fewer resources, conserve that which was used, and educate colleagues on ways to become ever greener. This is done by reviewing a guidebook listing dozens of specific ways to operate with sustainable practices. Pashek Associates’ strategy was to reduce water consumption and continue efforts to seal up our building envelope, Thompson said. Now the company is looking ahead to the next round. “Though the competition is over, we are about to start the process of upgrading to more efficient lighting,” Thompson said.

We hope our friends and followers out there will consider joining the next round of competition. Keep an eye on www.gwcpgh.org for an announcement about the 2014-15 contest.