In her own words:
When Kate Zettl graduated from Pitt in 2009 with her bachelor’s in civil and environmental engineering, the Pitt sustainability department was just starting. Kate’s inspiration to pursue a sustainability-related career path can be traced back to family, particularly her older sister, who graduated from Pitt’s Mechanical Engineering program. Her sister’s enthusiasm for sustainability sparked Kate’s interest, and studying abroad in Australia further fueled Kate’s passion, particularly through a class titled Greening the Built Environment and participating in tours of sustainable buildings. After graduating from Pitt, Kate participated in a fellowship program with the US Congress and German Bundestag, where she focused on renewable energy in Hamburg, Germany working for a solar manufacturer for over a year.
After returning from Germany, Kate started laying a foundation for her energy and sustainability work in her hometown of Pittsburgh. Kate joined PNC in 2014 during the green building transformation, including the construction of The Tower at PNC Plaza and with numerous LEED certified bank branches and office buildings. In 2022, she was instrumental in signing PNC’s first long-term power purchase agreement to develop 78 MW of new solar and power 50% of the facilities with renewable energy. While at PNC, she was accepted in a fellowship in Italy, earning an executive certificate in business management and entrepreneurial development and working for a high-end furniture manufacturer to integrate circular economy principles and biobased materials into their product design. After her time at PNC, Kate moved to her current role as the Director of Energy and Environmental Engineering at UPMC, applying her expertise in energy to the healthcare sector. In this role in the new Center for Sustainability at UPMC, Kate has been responsible for increasing the use of renewable energy, developing energy and water efficiency projects, and creating an energy and carbon emission reduction strategy.
Kate highlights that health-care facilities are very energy-intensive due to their around-the-clock operations and the high demand for lighting, ventilation, and medical equipment and machines. . To combat this, the Center for Sustainability at UPMC aims to reduce their carbon footprint by 50% (Scope 1 and 2 emissions) by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. It is Kate’s goal to further increase the use of renewable energy and establish key partnerships with research centers, universities, start-ups, and other industry-leading organizations. One of the biggest challenges is securing financial capital, so finding opportunities for incentives, rebates, and grants, as well as exploring viable financial models for energy power agreements, is crucial.
Last year, Kate was selected to participate in the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)’s Executive Energy Leadership program, which allowed her to go behind the scenes of cutting-edge laboratories and engage with world-renowned researchers and engineers in renewable energy. Kate would like to encourage others to seize opportunities to travel and work in the sustainability field, as it can broaden your perspective and inspire creative solutions to global challenges.