Call it green, call it sustainable, call it saving money, but one thing you have to call any efforts to cut costs or help the environment: a delicate balance.

There are so many easy things to do to cut paper usage or energy, but, as we all learned in physics, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

For instance, when the University of Pittsburgh Medical center looked into using motion detector lights in examination rooms, they found some unanticipated problems. For instance, in some of the examination rooms, patients waiting to be seen would fall asleep, the lights would go out and they would awaken disoriented and in the dark. Allison Robinson, the director of environmental initiative for the hospital chain, said that lead to nurses walking by rooms and waving their hands into them, just to keep the lights on. That system was replaced with regular switches.

Motion detector lights also can have an impact on safety, because if they are used in mostly unused hallways at night and there is an emergency, Miss Robinson said, people fleeing can slow down when they enter a dark hallway before the lights kick on.

When it comes to cutting back, Kennametal has come up with ways to reduce its use of energy and water while also reducing waste, said Christine Reitano, a spokeswoman for the Latrobe-based company.

Steps taken to reduce energy costs have been to install more energy efficient lighting in the office and plants; shutting down personal computers when people will be away from their desks for long periods of time and optimizing manufacturing machinery performance, which both improves efficiency and increases the life of the machinery.

Phyllis Barber, the Sustainability Coordinator for Highmark, said there is a cultural shift to becoming more green.

Kennametal is seeing that, too.

She said one of the ways Kennametal is trying to save is by "Developing a 'shut off' culture. Shutting off lights after meetings; shutting down equipment when it is not being used; shutting off lights and equipment when shifts are not operating.

Kennametal employees are also encouraged to bring laptops to meetings for note taking rather than pads of paper.

Ms. Robinson likened it to a paradigm shift, the sort of shift that took place for people raised on personal computers and those raised using paper. She said the children who are in school now are coming home and talking to their parents about recycling and sustainability, which is calling on their parents' better natures to set a good example for their children.

In turn, employees are coming in and talking to the corporation about how to become more green. Miss Robinson said it is the people who are directly working who can often see potential efficiencies, savings and ways to help the planet better than those dictating policy from above.

At UPMC, some of the initiatives being taken are to compensate for human behaviors, Miss Robinson said. For instance, faucets have been installed that only run when hands are under them, shutting off when someone is getting soap instead of running for no reason.

Other initiatives are implemented to compensate for inherent deficiencies, such as the computers that need to be on all the time have been programmed to go into a low-energy "sleep" mode when they are not actively being used, so that when someone does start using it again, it is as if it were never off.

There are also ways to go green that have nothing to do with the habits of people who work in the company. For instance, Highmark is making use of "sustainable landscaping" such as planting drought resistant plants and using some "gray water" to irrigate the landscaping. Miss Barber also said the insurer is looking at using organic pesticides and handling infestations of plants by picking off areas of plants that have been affected by bugs rather than covering a whole plant with insecticide. They are also looking into managing storm runoff by having green strips through parking lots to catch rain water.

One of the interesting aspects of sustainability is that sustainable practices are not treated as proprietary information or trade secrets.

Sustainable Pittsburgh has used that to help companies adopt green or sustainable practices by allowing companies to learn from each other.

Matt Mehalik, the program manager at Sustainable Pittsburgh, said the coordinators meet every eight weeks to share best practices with each other.

"It's usually over lunch," he said, adding that the lunches are always locally sourced foods that are not in styrofoam containers.

Mr. Mehalic said there are 56 people in the Pittsburgh region who are sustainability coordinators at their companies. That's up from fewer than 20 in 2007.

The lunches serve a number of purposes: They give the coordinators a chance to talk about initiatives, and they also give them a chance to talk about how to get the initiatives through companies where they might meet resistance.

He said most companies start small, see savings and then continue becoming more and more green instead of taking one big leap by immediately building a LEED certified building.

"It's a process," Mr. Mehalic said. "You've got to start somewhere."

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.