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The Storm

Pondering Philadelphia’s resilience in the aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma By Sam Boden Every day, I walk the cement patchwork of the city’s streets and sidewalks, navigating the bumps and cracks of the well-worn roads that make up our neighborhoods. I have seen the ways water gathers in the streets after a heavy rain

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2 mins read
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There’s No Place Like (a Green) Home

A Q&A with Lynne Templeton of Renewal Design Showroom By Emily Kovach You love your home, but there are always improvements to be made, right? Perhaps an outdated bathroom needs a facelift; a backyard deck isn’t looking so hang-friendly anymore; or—the big one—it’s time to rip out and redo the kitchen. But even smaller scale-projects,

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3 mins read
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The Split

Breaking up with your old furnace and window air conditioner units By Brion Shreffler If your air conditioner or heater won’t make it another season, it may be time to think about a highly-efficient (and space saving) mini-split system. It’s easy to zone your home, so that you aren’t heating and cooling each room all

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1 min read
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The (New) Energy Frontier

Passive house gets active, and affordable net-zero housing is on its way By Justin Klugh Before there were trains, cranes and Comcast towers, the city of Philadelphia was a church, a chapel, a great hall and, finally, homes—the purpose of which was to put some form of insulation between the elements and the Quakers and

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7 mins read
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Infrastructure and Design Shorts

Projects remaking the face of Philadelphia By Belinda Sharr LOVE Park Construction Moves Forward After Lengthy Delay; to Open in NovemberAfter nearly two years of construction, LOVE Park is inching closer to completion. Demolition began in February 2016 with the redesign plan detailing a new green space, concession stands, structural improvements and a water feature.

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3 mins read
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Stronger Together

Philadelphia joins other cities in fighting climate change through the 2030 Districts project. By Danielle Corcione & Grid Staff President Trump may have withdrawn the country from the Paris Climate Accord this past May, but major cities across the country are sticking to their climate adaptation and resilience plans, including Philadelphia. Mayor Kenney doubled down

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2 mins read
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The Sweet Side of the Beverage Tax

Cleaner parks, lower crime, better libraries and living wage jobs are all part of the ‘Rebuild’ program being funded by the city’s ‘soda tax’ By Danielle Corcione and Heather Blakeslee If you live in Philadelphia, you’ve heard of the brouhaha over the “soda tax,” and have been paying a little more lately if you have

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2 mins read
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Mariner 2 Natural Gas Pipeline Continues Construction 

Spills and safety concerns have slowed, but not halted, construction  By Justin Klugh A lateral journey across Pennsylvania is not a simple or a brief one, but the natural gas pulled out of the ground in the Marcellus shale and transported through the Mariner East pipeline to Sunoco’s Philadelphia distribution facility in Marcus Hook makes

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1 min read
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Power Up

Why Philadelphia is shifting to a just energy system By Brittany Barbato Danaje Elliott knew he wanted to work in computer science or hardware engineering. He also knew he needed a job to save money for college. He never imagined, though, that he’d soon be standing on top of a roof in order to achieve

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5 mins read
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The Other Sharing Economy

Creatives, wealthy homeowners and anchor institutions in liberal cities need to do more to share the wealth Interview by Heather Shayne Blakeslee Richard Florida’s 2002 book, “The Rise of the Creative Class,” chronicled how cities could redevelop their cores by attracting knowledge workers—a rising tide that would lift all boats. But instead of gains trickling

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6 mins read