A search for real estate under $200,000 in Philadelphia yields mostly fixer-uppers and condominiums. Marc Rowell’s mission with Deep Green Retrofit, launched in 2021, is to develop energy efficient, move-in ready housing for working-class families, putting affordability and sustainability ahead of personal profit. Growing up in public housing in North Philadelphia, Rowell came to believe
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Skeptics of the green energy movement have always asked: What do you do when there’s no sun for the solar panels and no breeze to stir the blades of the windmill, but you still need power? Batteries can store excess energy created when the conditions are favorable to be used for precisely those times —
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In a scene from the PBS docuseries “NOVA: Chasing Carbon Zero,” Chef Chris Galarza removes an ice cold frying pan from a freezer and places it on an induction burner. Only a moment later, he tosses some chopped peppers in the pan, which immediately start to sizzle. This impossible-seeming trick is one that Galaraza has
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Hydrogen as an element is simple. Each atom has one electron and one proton. It’s first on the periodic table — the most abundant chemical substance in the universe. But hydrogen as a potential climate-friendly energy source is anything but simple. Hydrogen has long been used in dirty industries: cleaved from fossil fuels, it can
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When he first saw workers changing out the streetlights on his block in Chestnut Hill, Timothy Breslin didn’t think much of it. He went to bed that night in the summer of 2022 without issue. In the daylight, he still didn’t register the changes. But when night fell, his street full of modest rowhomes was
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Ahead of the April primary, Grid asked the mayoral candidates for their thoughts on the city’s major sustainability issues. We sent questions about municipal waste, sustainable development, parks and greenspaces, and bicycling infrastructure. Eight candidates responded by our deadline and we published their responses in a special voter’s guide issue. Now, two candidates remain: Republican
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Cherelle Parker served as the 9th district City Councilmember from 2016 until 2022, when she resigned to run for mayor. For 10 years before her term in City Council she served as a state representative. On Parks Funding My campaign has been focused on a vision for making Philadelphia the safest, cleanest, and greenest big
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David Oh served as at-large City Councilmember (Republican) from 2012 to 2023, when he resigned to run for mayor. Oh worked as an attorney before running for City Council and served in the Army National Guard from 1988 to 1992. On Parks Funding The fact that Philadelphia is spending less proportionally of its own budget,
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Summer in the city is tough, and those drippy boxes protruding from windows all over Philly are the most ubiquitous solution to beat the heat. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), air conditioners use about 6% of the total electricity produced in the United States and cost homeowners and renters a cool $29
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The table was set, powerful people already gathered round and talking about the future, when Carol Kazeem walked in about 15 minutes late and popped the balloon. Kazeem, a first-term Pennsylvania state representative from Chester’s 159th district, has had a whirlwind of a year. When the former trauma outreach specialist and 31-year-old mother of three
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Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) is slated to spend $6 to $8 billion by 2058 to replace leak-prone gas mains, all while expanding its service network and dragging its feet on a transition to renewable energy sources, according to a report released by HEET (Home Energy Efficiency Team), which describes itself on its website as “a
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