PNC: Ahead of the game in energy efficiency

PNC Bank is taking on the color of money.

The Pittsburgh financial services company has opened 43 environmentally friendly, or "green," branches since 2002 and has its first in Philadelphia under construction near the new Target at City Avenue and Monument Road.

That stock of green branches has given PNC a jump on bigger national competitors in having buildings certified by the U.S. Green Building Council as energy-efficient and easy on the environment.

In Denver this month, JPMorgan Chase & Co., the third-largest U.S. bank by assets, opened its first green branch. Wachovia Corp., the fourth-largest U.S. bank by assets, said in May that it would open its first green branches this fall in California.

The two largest U.S. banks also have gotten into the action. Citigroup Inc. said in May that it would spend $50 billion over 10 years to address climate change and would open its first green branches next year. Bank of America Corp. in March announced a $20 billion environmental initiative.

PNC Financial Services Group, the nation's 20th-largest commercial bank, opened its first of two green office buildings in Pittsburgh in late 2000 because Gary Saulson, director of corporate real estate for PNC, became convinced that the economic, environmental and community benefits were too great to turn down.

Saulson said it was difficult at first because not many building-materials suppliers were on board with recycled content, low-emissions paints, and other products that met the criteria of the Green Building Council.

When PNC started buying carpet that qualified as green, "it cost 20 percent more, and there were four patterns to chose from," Saulson said. Now, although the price is the same, there are 4,000 patterns, he said.

Green building does not have to be obvious, Saulson said. No one should notice that the panels used to make the teller stations are made of wheat straw, that the floor contains recycled glass, or that the bank has a five-gallon hot water heater instead of an energy-hogging 60-gallon heater.

"The highest compliment I get is when people walk in the building and say, 'What's so green about this?' " Saulson said.

At the Cross Keys branch in Sicklerville last week, two potential customers were impressed even without knowing anything about the branch's green certification.

"It doesn't look like a bank to me," said Delores Johnson of Sicklerville. "It's welcoming and inviting" instead of "stuffy and staid," she said. She was there with Tracey Martin, also of Sicklerville, to open a booster club account for the Timber Creek High School boys' varsity basketball team.

Tim Britt, a financial consultant at the branch, called the green site "more comfortable" to work in than the traditional branch in Washington Township, where he trained. He said it had better lighting and better heating and air-conditioning.

Britt's is a typical reaction, said Kelly P. Finch, PNC's market manager for retail banking in the Philadelphia region. "The employees love it. It's physically energizing," said Finch during a visit to the branch under construction on City Avenue.

When it opens next month, it will consolidate two nearby branches, and the savings on energy - from more natural light and other efficiencies - will help PNC pay for extended hours and seven-day operations, Finch said.

PNC officials would not say how much they spend on green branches, but Saulson said PNC had spent $100,000 less than an unspecified competitor spends on conventional branches.

PNC has 27 buildings that have been certified under the Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system. For new construction, the system awards up to 69 credits in six areas: site selection, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor air quality, and innovation and design.

Ratings go from certified to silver, gold and platinum.

PNC has signed on as a tenant at a Liberty Property Trust building in the Navy Yard that has the highest certification.

Fifteen completed PNC branches have been submitted under the building council's pilot portfolio program, which is designed to speed up the certification process for companies that put up lots of cookie-cutter buildings.

PNC's program is having a ripple effect, said Brett Pastorius, a project manager at Clemens Construction Co. Inc., a Philadelphia company that has been building branches for PNC in the region, including the one on City Avenue.

"PNC introduced green building to me," he said, "and now we've got a whole program at our company."