Eligibility
All organizations with operations in Southwestern Pennsylvania are invited to participate in the Green Workplace Challenge. For-profit businesses and property managers are eligible to compete for awards, while non-profit organizations are invited to participate as “Observers.”
In order to be eligible to compete, your business must:
- Operate in at least one building within Southwestern Pennsylvania (see map here), and have continually occupied that space since at least September 2010.
- Have access to utility bills dating back to September 2010 for electric, natural gas, or water usage within the space in which the business operates.
- Participants are expected to update Portfolio Manager (see How to Get Started) monthly with energy and water usage data throughout the duration of the competition.
- Although businesses are only required to have access to bills dating back to September 2010 for one type of utility in order to compete, the more utilities that are entered into Portfolio Manager, the more points your business will receive.
- Be able to report the floor space (sq ft) in which the business operates.
- Be able to report the number of full-time employees and personal computers operating within the space. (Offices only)
- Register for the competition on the Green Workplace Challenge website by October 31, 2011.
If your business has been located in its current facility for less than one year, you are invited to participate in the Green Workplace Challenge as an “Observer.” Portfolio Manager requires 12 months of prior utility usage data to establish a baseline, so only businesses which are able to establish baselines are eligible to compete for awards. Observers will receive participant newsletters, be invited to participate in workshops, and appear on a separate leaderboard.
Competition Categories
Businesses will compete in one of three categories determined by size — Small (less than 50 employees); Medium (50 to 999 employees); or Large (1000+ employees). All property managers will be competing against one another in a separate category.
Upon completion of the Green Workplace Challenge a winner will announced for each category. All competitors will also be recognized based on the points they earned over the course of the competition.
