The Urban Redevelopment Authority's "green" loan initiative will count 11 energy-efficient homes and an architects' studio as complete by its first anniversary in October -- a decent start considering how long development takes.

But the desire to build green has caused a bottleneck of people waiting for more lenders to offer incentives and more contractors with green-building skills, said Rebecca Flora, executive director of the local Green Building Alliance.

"We're fairly swamped," said Matt Smuts, the URA's coordinator of sustainable development, whose job is to encourage developers to build according to the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.

The URA has supported LEED-certified projects in the past decade as site assembler, conduit of state money and lender. Most have been of grand scale, including the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and the Children's Museum.

Its lowering of interest rates last year jump-started the rest of the field.

The authority dropped rates from 5.25 percent to 2.75 percent for a LEED platinum rating, 3.5 percent for a gold rating and 4.25 percent for a silver rating. The interest rate stays at its highest level until the borrower's building is certified.

Residential borrowers can get a better rate for taking green steps, starting with the mandatory use of Energy Star appliances for all plans submitted this year, said Mr. Smuts.

The Energy Star rating acknowledges a 35 percent savings on energy costs.

Of all his projects, five homes in Homewood and six in Hazelwood are due to be completed by October.

A few niche banks nationally offer rate reductions for green projects. No local ones could be identified. The National Real Estate Investor, an online magazine, reports that banks are waiting for data to justify higher valuations of LEED buildings. The standards were launched in 2000.

The Rothschild Doyno Collaborative will save "several hundred dollars a month, possibly a thousand" by taking a $250,000 loan from the URA -- 28 percent of the project cost-- and going for gold LEED certification, said Daniel Rothschild, a principal architect in the firm.

"We wanted to do an environmental showcase on a modest budget," said Mr. Rothschild.

The firm reinvented a dowdy brick box on Penn Avenue with a heat-blocking surround of windows that open, rooftop heating and cooling systems, with fans that can be reversed to lift hot air up and out of the building, and the original bay door in back that is open on warm days.

"It's like working on the porch," said Mr. Rothschild one day when no one was using his desk light.

The garage's distressed wooden doors serve as easels for the firm's portfolio display, and chain link fencing, reshaped, hangs from the ceiling as a plant tower. The birch counters come from certified sustainable forests and their coating is formaldehyde-free. The toilet has a low-water flush option.

Ms. Smuts said contractors overbidding now for LEED projects will soon see expenses tip toward savings.

"If an Energy Star house is $5,000 more, that's inconsequential on a 30-year mortgage," he said. "You see the savings in a few years."

In planning for the Children's Museum's new building in Allegheny Center in the late 1990s, the neighborhood and the staff agreed that "being sustainable is a natural extension of our mission -- as a model for a healthy environment and doing the right thing," said Chris Siefert, the museum's deputy director.

"There are built-in incentives" to building green, from better air, cheaper operating costs, less energy use and fewer health risks, said Mr. Smuts. "It's getting to the point where it's irresponsible not to."