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#013 April 2010/Circular Economy/Recycling

Profile: You’re a Green One

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March 9, 2010
2 mins read

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When York Energy Storage LLC proposed in 2023 to t When York Energy Storage LLC proposed in 2023 to turn the small valley of Cuff’s Run in York County, on the western bank of the Susquehanna River, into an energy storage reservoir, William McMahon, the engineer and energy entrepreneur behind the plan, billed it as a solution to the limitations of renewable energy. As is often said, the wind doesn’t always blow, and the sun doesn’t shine at night. The grid needs to store renewable energy to ensure an even supply. In 2026, as artificial intelligence data centers spring up across America and energy prices rise, McMahon says the project is critical. “There is a great need for storage in the PJM grid,” he says. Soon after Grid’s article ran in 2024, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted York Energy Storage a preliminary permit. In effect for four years, it gives the company priority for building a project on the site (essentially calling dibs) and opens up a public input period as the company begins to assemble the studies and other documents necessary for a full license application. If granted, the license would allow the company to build the project and use eminent domain to force property owners on the site to sell. ➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com ✍️ + 📸 Bernard Brown #yorkcounty #energystorage #renewableenergy #datacenters #floodrisk
Data center development in Pennsylvania is booming Data center development in Pennsylvania is booming. Last year, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick and President Donald Trump announced $90 billion in private investments for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, data centers and energy projects across the state. Today, according to the Data Center Proposal Tracker, Pennsylvania has 52 data centers, and there are at least 53 more currently proposed. Gov. Josh Shapiro wants developers to pick up the pace. In February, he announced a path to faster permitting for developers who follow stricter environmental and transparency standards. State Sen. Katie Muth, however, wants to slow things down. Muth, who represents parts of Chester, Montgomery and Berks counties, is seeing data center proposals in her district, and she’s concerned about how the structures impact human health, the environment and electricity costs. Soon, she plans to introduce legislation that would put a three-year moratorium on data center development. ➡️ Read the full interview at gridphilly.com ✍️ Jordan Teicher 📸 Photo courtesy of Sen. Katie Muth #pennsylvania #datacenter #datacenters #datacenterinfrastructure #artificialintelligence
In 2008, I heard Van Jones speak at the Academy of In 2008, I heard Van Jones speak at the Academy of Natural Sciences about his book “The Green Collar Economy.” He talked about the need to make careers in clean energy accessible to all of our communities, and that without intentional inclusion, the underserved neighborhoods in our region would be sidelined from these opportunities, too. I grew up in West Philly — Powelton Village — and knew what Van meant. My neighbors were handy, but rarely employed with any stability or benefits that could sustain a family. Inspired by his words, I founded Solar States that same year with a dual-mission: install solar, and educate the next generation. ➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com ✍️ Micah Gold-Markel #philadelphia #solarenergy #solarpower #solarpowered #solarstates
Events happening in and around Philadelphia this w Events happening in and around Philadelphia this weekend! ➡️ Love Your Park Week 2026: This spring, show your favorite neighborhood park some love! Love Your Park Week is a nine-day celebration of Philadelphia’s public parks from May 9-17, 2026. Over 100 Philly parks need help tending gardens and flower beds, caring for trees, and cleaning up our parks after the winter season. When: Saturday, May 9 (8:00 AM) - Sunday, May 17 (5:00 PM) Where: Parks all across the city! ➡️ Public Art Day at the Farmer’s Market: Join us for a vibrant day of creativity, community, and color at the Farmers Market for Public Art Day! We’re transforming our space into a collaborative fiber art installation—and everyone is invited to be part of it. When: Saturday, May 9 (9:00 AM - 1:00 PM) Where: 30 North Lansdowne Avenue Lansdowne, PA 19050 ➡️ Reading is Freedom Festival: Celebrate literacy, creativity, and community with family-friendly activities, book giveaways, and interactive stations! When: Saturday, May 9 (12:00 PM - 3:00 PM) Where: Historic Fair Hill 2901 Germantown Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19133 #philadelphia #philly #phillysupportphilly #eventsinphilly #phillyevents
On Tuesday, April 14, the Philadelphia Gas Commiss On Tuesday, April 14, the Philadelphia Gas Commission — the government body that oversees the City-owned Philadelphia Gas Works — did something highly unusual. It voted to table a vote on PGW’s 2027 capital budget, basically postponing a routine step until a later date. “I was very surprised that the Commission did not make a decision,” says Robert Ballenger, an attorney with Community Legal Services, which is contracted to represent the interests of PGW ratepayers as the utility’s public advocate. Commissioner and City Council member Mike Driscoll asked that they table the decision to allow for more time to gather information about PGW’s request for $182 million to buy a new liquefier for its Port Richmond liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant. “This is a complex issue deserving more study,” Driscoll said in the April meeting. The issue revolves around two 12-story tanks that loom over Columbus Boulevard near the Port Richmond waterfront. They fit in with the industrial landscape, sitting across the street from the Tioga Marine Terminal and next door to a water department sewage treatment plant. Those tanks can hold four billion cubic feet of LNG, enough to get PGW’s customers through the coldest winter PGW can imagine. Behind those tanks, a complex jumble of pipes feeds gas into equipment that cools the hydrocarbons to 270 degrees below zero, at which point they condense into a liquid that takes up about 1/600th of the space, making it more efficient to store and transport. What is harder to see is the gas, invisible to the naked eye, that leaks out or is intentionally vented to maintain the correct pressure in the tanks and the liquefying equipment. But filmed with an optical gas imaging camera like the one Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania has, the invisible gases pop into view on a video the group posted to YouTube. “You can point it at the facility and see,” says Linnea Bond, the group’s environment and health education director. “You can see this is a cloud of hydrocarbons.” ➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com ✍️ Bernard Brown 📸 Tracie Van Auken #philadelphia #naturalgas #airpollution #publichealth #decarbonization
“The Weight of Time,” a Morton Contemporary Art Ga “The Weight of Time,” a Morton Contemporary Art Gallery exhibition of paintings by 10 artists serving life sentences at Montgomery County’s Phoenix prison, lays bare heartache, hope and the crushing force of hour piling upon hour. “I served 20 years with [the artists],” says Eddie Ramirez, who was formerly incarcerated at Phoenix. “We painted together in the Mural Arts Philadelphia’s Restorative Justice Program.” Started by executive director Jane Golden in 2004, the program shows people involved in the carceral system how to paint panels for future street murals, thus providing art education. “I’m not a real artist, but the [other] guys are,” Ramirez says. “I made a commitment to get them exposure when I got out.” He says the show almost didn’t happen, as many galleries nixed a prison-themed exhibition, “but Debbie Morton, who owns this gallery, said yes.” The exhibition provides a way for Morton to affirm her belief in art’s healing power. “Art offers many of these men a way to process grief, loss and remorse,” says Morton, the show’s co-curator. “I hope this body of work allows viewers to see the humanity and talent of each artist.” ➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com ✍️ Constance Garcia-Barrio 🖼️ Keith Andrews #philadelphia #incarceratedartists #phillyartgallery #restorativejustice #artheals
In 2022, a pipe failed at the liquefied natural ga In 2022, a pipe failed at the liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal in Freeport, Texas, causing an explosion and fire. The conflagration took place entirely within the facility, built on a barrier island along the Gulf of Mexico. The nearest residential area sits more than a mile away from the plant, adding a buffer from what is known as the blast zone. No one was injured inside or outside the plant. There isn’t as much room for a natural gas explosion in Eddystone, where developers may be in negotiations with borough leaders to site a plant along the densely populated Delaware County waterfront, according to the Delaware Riverkeeper Network. The potential for an explosion is only one of the reasons Eddystone resident Eugene Wylie opposes an LNG plant in his backyard. The lack of open industrial space in the tiny municipality (about 1.5 square miles, a third of which is water) is another. Assuming the facility would be similar in size to the 1,000-acre Cove Point LNG export terminal in Maryland, “They would knock down 150 residents’ houses where the facility would go. If they need to knock down three blocks of houses, that’s one bad thing,” Wylie says. ➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com ✍️ Bernard Brown 📸 Taylor Ecker #delawarecounty #naturalgas #airpollution #publichealth #publichealthmatters
Tucked into a still corner of Grays Ferry, a block Tucked into a still corner of Grays Ferry, a block-spanning brick building with towering stacks overlooks the river and its walking trail. Thick steel pipes snake around the compound, carrying water and gas to tanks and boilers. The air thrums with the sound of machinery hard at work turning water into steam. This is the Vicinity Energy Schuylkill plant, and it’s what’s known as a combined heat and power plant. Giant boilers within combust fuel to spin turbines that generate electricity. The excess heat from that process is then used to create high-pressure steam that gets funneled out to customers through the “steam loop,” a 41-mile circuit of piping under the city. Steam is used by many of the city’s office buildings, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, among others, to both warm radiators and drive cooling compressors. Steam systems, also known as district energy systems, undergird hundreds of U.S. cities, college campuses, hospital complexes, military bases and airports, providing heat, cooling and power to millions of people. The Department of Energy estimates there are 660 active district energy systems in the country. Vicinity is the largest operator of district energy systems in North America. In Philadelphia, they serve over 100 million square feet across 400 buildings. ➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com ✍️ Sarah Ruiz 📸 Photo courtesy of Vicinity Energy #philadelphia #cleanenergy #sustainableenergy #steampowered #decarbonization
May is here and so is another issue of Grid 🗞 Dive May is here and so is another issue of Grid 🗞 Dive into stories like these… • Could a sustainable energy option have been lying beneath Philly’s sidewalks for a century? • The struggle over a potential liquefied natural gas export facility shifts to Eddystone in Delaware County • State sen. Katie Muth discusses her push to pause Pennsylvania’s data center frenzy …and more in issue 204 at gridphilly.com 📸 Cover photo by Bryan Littel/Alamy Stock Photo #philadelphia #phillynews #sustainability #environmentalnews #independentjournalism
I would need to book a flight to Portland, Oregon, I would need to book a flight to Portland, Oregon, to see shad runs like Philadelphians once did. That might surprise Delaware Valley residents accustomed to hearing how scarce the once-abundant fish are. But while shad have long suffered in their home range, they have flourished out West. The sleek silver herring is a celebrity in Philadelphia, having named a neighborhood (Fishtown) and (at least in legend) fed George Washington’s troops camped at Valley Forge on the Schuylkill River. For thousands of years, the Lenape relied on migratory fish such as shad to deliver a bounty every spring. They were abundant into the beginning of the 20th century, when fishermen landed 3 million per year in the Delaware system. The spawning shad population is currently stuck below a million adults per year. There was a population bump in the 1980s, reaching 830,000, but today the number appears to be stable at a lower level, according to a report on the status of shad and other river herring published last year by the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary. ➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com ✍️ Bernard Brown #philadelphia #americanshad #delawareriver #urbannature #urbanwildlife
As the oldest of nine children, Shevy Sputz was he As the oldest of nine children, Shevy Sputz was her mother’s kitchen assistant in their Brooklyn household. Sputz’s mother, a talented cook and baker, wisely gave her daughter responsibility for making desserts. Decades later, that early family apprenticeship and an heirloom recipe led to the formation of Sputz’s burgeoning Fairmount-based business, Shevy’s Babka Paradise. Although some consider the high-domed, loaf-shaped delicacy a bread, Sputz describes it as a delicious chocolate- or cinnamon-filled cake. “If someone has never tried it, they must taste it,” she says. For Sputz, a slice of babka with morning coffee is the perfect pairing, just the way she enjoyed it on weekend mornings in her family’s home. Nearly 10 years ago, Sputz moved to Philadelphia with her husband, Rabbi Hirshi Sputz, to “build Jewish community, helping Jews connect to Judaism” through the Chabad of Fairmount. This was a big move for Sputz, who was used to being surrounded by family. But she soon found an opportunity to make friends and build community through babka. ➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com ✍️ Marilyn Anthony 📸 Tracie Van Auken #philadelphia #phillybaker #phillybakery #phillyfoodie #babka
Events happening in and around Philadelphia this w Events happening in and around Philadelphia this weekend! ➡️ City Nature Challenge Evening Walk: Help us document the biodiversity at Crossways Preserve using iNaturalist. We will work to document as many trees, plants, animals and insects we can find. When: Friday, April 24 (6:00 PM - 7:00 PM) Where: Crossways Preserve Cathcart Road & Normandy Drive Penllyn, PA 19422 ➡️ City Nature Challenge at The Woodlands: Join us for an exciting BioBlitz on at The Woodlands! In partnership with Green Philly, The Woodlands, Feminist Bird Club Philly, Andrew the Arborist, Disability Pride PA, the Philadelphia Mycology Club and City Nature Challenge participants will use the app iNaturalist to explore the biodiversity of The Woodlands (an incredible green space located in West Philadelphia) all while participating in community science during the worldwide City Nature Challenge! Community science data collected through iNaturalist observations is key to help monitor urban biodiversity health. When: Saturday, April 25 (11:00 AM - 12:30 PM) Where: The Woodlands 4000 Woodland Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19104 ➡️ Join 15+ organizations to celebrate environmental belonging and action and the 100th Anniversary of Camp Linden! Meet and build relationships with others interested in earth education and activism. When: Sunday, April 26 (10:30 AM - 2:00 PM) Where: 1906 Rittenhouse Square Philadelphia, PA 19103 #philadelphia #philly #phillysupportphilly #eventsinphilly #phillyevents
State Rep. Chris Rabb, a five-term lawmaker for Pe State Rep. Chris Rabb, a five-term lawmaker for Pennsylvania’s 200th legislative district, is one of eight Democratic candidates running for the chance to take Congressman Dwight Evans’ vacant seat in the U.S. House of Representatives next year. Rabb has emerged as a progressive option in the lead-up to the Democratic primary in May, with positions on immigration, climate change and election reform that resonate with a diverse array of voters. In our April issue, we talk with Rabb about why he’s running and his vision for the work ahead, if elected. ➡️ Read the full interview at gridphilly.com ✍️ Sarah Ruiz 📸 Photo courtesy of Rabb Campaign #philadelphia #politics #papolitics #election #electionday
Every Friday afternoon from May to October, Alex C Every Friday afternoon from May to October, Alex Correia and George Murkowicz meet for lunch. Correia, a senior horticulturist at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, and Murkowicz, executive chef at its on-site garden-to-table restaurant, 1906, taste-test dishes that result from the horticultural-culinary partnership at the center of it. Correia, Murkowicz and volunteers work together, balancing dynamics such as flavor versus beauty, yield versus rarity and on-site planting versus farm-sourced ingredients. Today, 1906 is Philadelphia’s only full-service restaurant connected to an arboretum. “George and Will [Brown, the culinary director] are both so excited about the garden and really committed to figuring out how to use what we’re growing,” says Correia. “They are connected to the space, coming out every week, seeing what’s growing and planning menus around that. I think that’s what has made all of the difference.” ➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com ✍️ Alisha Miranda (@alishainthebiz) 📸 Philippe LeSaux (@flplsx) #philadelphia #longwoodgardens #phillyfoodie #gardentotable #kitchengarden
On a balmy Friday afternoon in late February, the On a balmy Friday afternoon in late February, the teens who work at Fab Fits, Fab Youth Philly’s new youth-run thrift store, are waiting for their first customers of the day. A chirp through a walkie-talkie alerts staff member Brianna Valente, 18, to head downstairs to the building’s ground floor. She greets a pair of teenagers and leads them up the winding staircase to the third-floor space, which resembles a homey boutique. Then, she hands each girl a red tote bag, which they can fill with secondhand clothes from the store’s racks and take home, free of charge. Fab Fits, which opened Feb. 12, offers teens from Kensington and across the city a place to shop for casual, everyday clothes as well as garments for special events like proms and job interviews. The inventory is sourced from donations by community members and partner organizations, says Rebecca Fabiano, executive director of Fab Youth Philly, and thus, it is constantly changing. Today, the prom dress room is especially well-stocked with pre-loved tulle and sequin gowns, but the growing crowd of shoppers are quickly clearing the casual racks of any pieces that could fit the Y2K aesthetic. Fabiano says the idea for the store came from youth who had enjoyed the organization’s annual Fab Fashion Boutique, a promwear giveaway event first held in 2023 that expanded to workwear in 2024. Teens who had attended began requesting a permanent location to shop on a regular basis. Besides being a place for young people to get free clothing for the important (and often expensive) events in a teenager’s life, Fab Fits — and Fab Youth Philly as a whole — is also a space for youth to connect. ➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com ✍️ + 📸 Julia Lowe #philadelphia #phillythrift #sustainablefashion #supportlocalbusinesses #shopphilly
Events happening in and around Philadelphia this w Events happening in and around Philadelphia this weekend! ➡️ Bells Mill Road Clean-Up for Earth Day and MLK Day: Join Friends of the Wissahickon in celebrating BOTH Earth Day and Martin Luther King Jr Day (after having to cancel our service day in January) with a special large-scale clean-up along Bells Mill Road! By removing litter along the roadway, we can prevent trash from washing into the creek during rainstorms and help protect habitat and stream health. When: Saturday, April 18 (9:00 AM - 12:00 PM) Where: Forbidden Drive and Bells Mill Rd. Philadelphia, PA 19118 ➡️ Upper Merion Township’s 2026 Earth Day Festival: Free kid activities, green demos and vendors, food trucks, a beer garden, and more! When: Saturday, April 18 (11:00 AM - 2:00 PM) Where: Upper Merion Township Building Back Lot/Park 175 West Valley Forge Road King of Prussia, PA 19406 ➡️ Earth Appreciation Day – Plants and Poetry: Join Audubon Mid-Atlantic and Temple University at the Discovery Center as we work to maintain our habitats and conservation work for Earth Day! This site is home to over 170+ species of birds, many species of insects and mammals, and up to thousands of visitors per year. Our efforts can aid in the livelihood of these animals and stewardship for the people. We’ll focus on removing invasive bushes and plants around the trailhead so we can plant native shrubs in the future, as well as fill our seed packets for the public seed library. Afterwards, we open our space to an open stage for those to come and share their voice and appreciation of our earth and community. This can be through poetry, stories and other types of offerings. When: Saturday, April 18 (1:00 PM - 4:00 PM) Where: The Discovery Center 3401 Reservoir Drive Philadelphia, PA 19121 #philadelphia #philly #phillysupportphilly #eventsinphilly #phillyevents
The sound of percussion rang out at the Center Cit The sound of percussion rang out at the Center City headquarters of the School District of Philadelphia as the youth drumline Mad Beatz Philly opened a celebratory press conference in early March. The Black-led, parent-driven organization Lift Every Voice Philly (LEV) was celebrating a major victory: after 18 months of advocacy by parents across the city’s schools, the district passed its first comprehensive wellness policy to protect students’ basic needs. Jamila Carter, a member of LEV, stood at a podium and called the victory “a long time coming,” as a group of children and parents stood behind her, clad in purple LEV shirts, cheering and waving pom-poms. “We refused to accept schools where our children could not drink water freely, where daily movement and recess were denied, and where collective punishment and silent lunches were treated as normal,” Carter said. “I didn’t come to this work as a trained activist or organizer. I came to it as a mother.” ➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com ✍️ Gabriel Donahue #philadelphia #phillyschools #education #studentrights #lifteveryvoice
As a parent of a 13-year-old and a 10-year-old who As a parent of a 13-year-old and a 10-year-old who play baseball in West Philly’s Philadelphia Athletics Youth Sports Association (PAYSA), I know firsthand how hard it can be to find space to play organized sports. The league has grown from 170 kids in 2014 to around 300 today, with a waiting list of 20. The demand keeps growing, but the field space remains the same. On a typical night, my daughter shares practice time with two other teams. Three teams rotate across one proper baseball field and two “open space” areas where drills can be run. That means each team gets about 30 minutes per week of practice on an actual field. Adding to the field stress, our makeshift batting cage recently fell apart and is now unusable. And yet, everyone associated with PAYSA would tell you how lucky we are. ➡️ Read the full note from our publisher at gridphilly.com ✍️ Alex Mulcahy #philadelphia #youthsports #fieldsports #syntheticturf #urbangreenspace
Nature lovers, mark your calendars for Love Your P Nature lovers, mark your calendars for Love Your Park Week 2026. One hundred forty park friends groups care for the city’s parks year-round and are calling for volunteers to join the cleanup and beautification days hosted from May 9-17. “I think it’s a great way to be outside with the community,” says Catherine Lowther, president of Friends of Penn Treaty Park. “It doesn’t have to be our park … There’s so many to choose from.” Love Your Park Week has been a staple, biannual event in the Philadelphia parks scene since its launch in 2012 by Fairmount Park Conservancy and Philadelphia Parks & Recreation. Grid caught up with a few friends groups to find out how they’ll be celebrating their parks and how volunteers can join in on stewardship efforts at a park near them. ➡️ Read the full story at gridphilly.com ✍️ Julia Lowe and Gabriel Donahue 📸 Photo courtesy of Tacony Creek Park #philadelphia #urbannature #urbangreenspace #phillyparks #parkcleanup
Events happening in and around Philadelphia this w Events happening in and around Philadelphia this weekend! ➡️ Electronics Recycling: Weavers Way Environment Committee is hosting their annual electronic recycling event at Chestnut Hill College. Anything that has a plug or can turn on can be recycled at this event. When: Saturday, April 11 (9:00 AM - 1:00 PM) Where: Chestnut Hill College 9601 Germantown Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19118 ➡️ Upcycling Workshop - Create Your Own Totebag: Get ready to turn old into new and design your very own totebag at this upcycling workshop! Don’t miss out on this opportunity to learn new skills and contribute to sustainability. When: Sunday, April 12 (12:00 PM - 4:00 PM) Where: 5122 Springfield Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19143 ➡️ Climate Resilience Plan Community Workshop: Bartram’s Garden and ACANA are proud to host a community workshop in collaboration with the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability. Together, we’ve helped design a workshop that is specific to our neighborhood, grounded in local experiences, and centered on community voices. This workshop will provide direct input to Philadelphia’s Citywide Climate Resilience Plan, which is focused on developing strategies at different scales — citywide and neighborhood-level solutions — to prepare for extreme heat, flooding, storms, power outages, and other climate impacts. When: Sunday, April 12 (2:00 PM - 5:00 PM) Where: Coach House 5400 Lindbergh Boulevard Philadelphia, PA 19143 #philadelphia #philly #phillysupportphilly #eventsinphilly #phillyevents
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