Rockwell Hall, home of the Palumbo-Donahue School of Business, received an environmental certification from Class-g, marking Duquesne as the only educational institution participating across 28 states, Canada and Mexico.
Rockwell Hall
While LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) ratings remain the industry standard, the Class-g rating—co-developed in 2011 by Michael Embrescia, a graduate of Duquesne’s first MBA Sustainability cohort—accounts for ongoing environmental actions inside the building as well as physical properties of the building itself.
Participants rate themselves and their buildings in a 100-point checklist including such points as powering down during unoccupied times, using mats and rugs to manage particulates, and sealing doors and windows. The checklist and Class-g website allows organizations to communicate their efforts to employees, clients and other stakeholders and to set sights on what they can improve.
More than 280 buildings—comprising approximately 45 million square feet of working space—including local organizations such as Bayer, Genco, Goodwill and Kenny Ross, are Class-g certified.