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The mock-up office is letting PNC resolve issues that would have been costly and time-consuming to fix on the Pittsburgh tower site.
March 31 -
Rather than simply considering whether a prospective borrower's business contributes to climate change, banks are slowly turning their attention to making sure borrowers in a variety of industries account for how climate change could affect them.
August 18 -
The philanthropic arm of Wells Fargo is working with the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory on an incubator that grooms early-stage clean technology startups and validates their products.
August 18 -
Several big banks have hired environmental professionals from far outside the world of banking to make sure banks' clients aren't doing things to threaten water quality, public health or worker safety. The executives' job is to protect their banks' credit books and reputations.
May 21
PNC Financial Services Group cut the ribbon on its new, environmentally friendly headquarters in Pittsburgh.
Named The Tower at PNC Plaza, the building is 33 stories tall and will host roughly 2,200 employees in 800,000 square feet of space. The building has received LEED platinum certification and was designed with the goal of being the "greenest office tower in the world," the $354 billion-asset PNC said in an Oct. 1 news release.
The new headquarters is expected to consume 50% less energy and 77% less water than typical office buildings.
The building has a double-skin façade, a window system with two panes of glass designed to provide insulation and control the interior temperature. PNC's new home also includes a solar chimney, which carries warm air through two vertical shafts at the center of the building to keep it warm.
Other environmentally oriented features include blinds with automatic controls and a water recycling and treatment system.
"From a resource conservation, operational efficiency and workplace satisfaction perspective, green building makes good business sense," PNC director of corporate real estate Gary Saulson said in the release.
