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Actor Brad Pitt wants to play a role in making New Orleans homesbuilding more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly.Pitt will be in the city in mid-July to chair a panel judging building designs in a contest open internationally, said Matt Peterson, president and CEO of Global Green USA, the U.S. affiliate of Green Cross International, which was founded by former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.Brad Pitt is going to be coming down here and being part of the jury and spending a couple of days in New Orleans, Peterson said.The competition will center around designs for affordable multifamily and single-family housing as well as a community center Global Green officials hope to have built in New Orleans, Peterson said. Tulane University's City Center will exhibit the designs, he saidPitt and members of New Orleans neighborhood associations such as Holy Cross will select six finalists, Peterson said. Global Green and the neighborhood groups will also try to find funding to build the projects, he said.The goal is to get it built, he said.Peterson was in New Orleans Wednesday to help open a Global Green office at 841 Carondelet St. Global Green also has offices in Washington, D.C., and Santa Monica, Calif. Global Green, a national environmental organization, has three goals: prevent climate change by building environmentally friendly cities, eliminate weapons of mass destruction and provide the world with clean drinking water.Global Green wants New Orleans to become a green city after Hurricane Katrina, Peterson said, awith green technologies and industries. The Carondelet Street office will open in late May as a resource center supplying workshops and technical assistance for architects, builders and others on environmentally friendly building techniques, he said.New Orleans resident Beth Galente is interim director of the New Orleans office, Peterson said. Galente's assistant is New Orleans resident John Moore.Peterson described the move to New Orleans as a big decision for us.We're excited to be part of the community here and have been grateful for the warm welcome we've received, he said.