Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Guidelines for Creating High-Performance Green Buildings

by Bob Kobet and Wendy Powers of Conservation Consultants, Inc., Stephen Lee of the Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics, and Christine Mondor and Marc Mondor of Big Picture Designs, 1999. Paperback, 50 pages, free from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, P.O. Box 2063, Harrisburg, PA 17105. Call 717/787-4190; or see their Web site:

www.dep.state.pa.us.

This booklet from Pennsylvania expresses the Commonwealth’s commitment to being a leader among state governments in green building, with a strong endorsement from Governor Tom Ridge. The basic principles of green design are clearly laid out by building system and by design phase, with checklists accompanying the narrative. One-page case studies of twelve buildings in Pennsylvania serve to illustrate how some of these principles are being implemented. The case studies are notable especially for the large number of renovated buildings represented.

Among the book’s weaknesses are that its two-color format with small, sometimes dark photos makes it hard to see what the buildings look like, and a design choice to use diagonal lines as a background for some text boxes makes them hard to read. Also, a list of resources for additional information is somewhat out of date, and it does not offer help on where to get the materials. These minor drawbacks aside, the booklet is a valuable introduction to the issues, and you can’t beat the price!