“Green Team” launched at Pennsylvania Convention Center

Initiative designed to enhance sustainability and energy conservation at the facility

PHILADELPHIA (June 2, 2016) – The Pennsylvania Convention Center (PCC) has launched a “Green Team” to complement its existing core of sustainability programs that have already resulted in greater energy efficiency and savings for the leading event and meeting venue in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

“The Center's Board of Directors is committed to sustainability initiatives as part of our overall focus on environmental stewardship,” said Gregory J. Fox, Esq., chairman of the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority. “These efforts are good public policy, but they also make the Center more competitive in attracting new business because many customers select venues based on sustainability efforts.  We believe we are one of the industry leaders in this area by actively working to manage our carbon footprint, utilize green products in our supply chain, and implement best practices related to sustainability.”

The Convention Center, managed by SMG, is committed to reducing the environmental impact of its 2-milion-square foot imprint and to providing a healthy and high-performance cleaning operation within the facility.  These efforts are building on the facility's 2011 expansion, which received a LEED® Gold Certification from the US Green Building Council The Green Team is comprised of Center employees focused on these goals.

“As part of SMG's Sustainability Best Practices, we strive to participate, to improve, and to account for the growing expectations of our clients and to improve resource efficiency,” said Janet Mitrocsak, the PCC's director of facilities.

In recent years, the Center has increased its sustainability efforts through a multi-pronged plan that has included:

• The replacement of 765 LED lighting fixtures in the Center's 82 meeting rooms with contracted electricians from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 98.
• The team added 214 LED fixtures in the 12th Street underpass between Arch and Race Streets in Philadelphia.
• The installation of a white roof membrane over five exhibit halls with a highly efficient Solar Reflectance Index, which is a measure of the surface's ability to stay cool in the sun by reflecting solar radiation and emitting thermal radiation.
• The use of engineering energy management for heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems to enhance efficiency.
• Single-stream recycling, composting, lamp and metal recycling, as well as collecting cooking oil, show pallets, and materials that are repurposed rather than sent to landfills
• Conservation efforts that focus on the use of safe-cleaning restroom products and low-flow faucets.
• Separate recycling and landfill trash containers placed throughout the facility in public concourses and rooms with larger compactors in designated areas for staff use behind the scenes.

The Pennsylvania Convention Center and SMG held a training session for staff on May 24 that included presentations on a number of green initiatives and goals that build on the PCCA's Sustainability Mission Statement. Staff was also briefed by some of the Center's partners on the facility's recycling and landfill hauling process, how the Center implements food composting through the use of an organic waste decomposition machine, and operating procedures for conserving lighting and power around the facility.

“We are all working to ensure that the Pennsylvania Convention Center is known as a green meeting space,” said PCC General Manager Lorenz Hassenstein.  “We know that our customers appreciate our strong commitment to being eco-friendly.”