Energy and Carbon Use for General Assembly

General Assembly (GA) planners measure event sustainability in multiple ways. One key performance indicator is Carbon Emissions.

What Our Planners Are Doing

The offset of carbon emissions from travel is already included in your registration. In 2022, 95% of in person attendees and 94% of virtual attendees participated in the carbon offset program and helped by UUA to achieve carbon neutrality.

Carbon emissions related to the energy consumption at the convention center and hotels will be offset through our partnership with The Carbon Fund.

What Our Venue Is Doing

Located in downtown Pittsburgh, PA, the David L. Lawrence Convention Center was the first fully sustainable convention center in the world and was awarded the Gold (new building) and Platinum (existing building) LEED® certifications by the US Green Building Council.

This facility filters and sanitizes the building's wastewater for the flushing toilets which don't require chlorinated water (called graywater). By using reclaimed waste water, five million gallons of fresh water is saved every year.

As air heats inside the second floor — Halls ABC — it rises along the curve of the roof and exits through another set of louvers, just like a chimney (remember warm air rises). This natural circulation pattern creates a constant in-flow of fresh air when the weather conditions permit.

In addition to improving air quality, the natural ventilation system also acts as a zero-cost air conditioner. The system is put to full use whenever the outdoor temperature is between forty-five and sixty-four degrees, which covers 25% of the year on average. Increased controls allow rooms to be turned off when unoccupied, making cooling even more efficient for those spaces which need it.

What You Can Do

The offset of carbon emissions from travel is already included in your registration. Both in-person and virtual registration have offsets built in (which registrants can opt out of). In 2019, 93.8% of UUA-GA attendees participated in the carbon offset program and helped by UUA to achieve carbon neutrality.