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
MorePhoto by Albert C. Yee Higher Power by Thomas Parry Bill Cozzens had been skirting around the edges of the Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT). A Germantown Quaker himself, Cozzens had attended a demonstration and a meeting, but was looking to get more involved. On the evening of May 3, Cozzens showed up to the
MoreMayor Kenney’s Commitment to Protected Bike Lanes Gaining SupportAfter a February announcement by Mayor Jim Kenney to add 30 miles of protected bike lanes to Philadelphia’s streets (and an announcement to create Philadelphia’s first-ever department of Complete Streets), advocates are pushing for progress. The urbanist PAC 5th Square is actively fundraising in order to galvanize
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Illustration by Kathleen White It’s Electric by Hannah Waters A letter slides through my mail slot urging me to change my electricity provider. I groan. “Sign and return the form below to have 100% renewable sources supplied for the Waters home,” it says. “If you don’t switch, your power will still come from power plants
Morestory by Liz PachecoSince 2004, the PECO Wind program has allowed customers to purchase renewable electricity that supported wind projects in Pennsylvania. But as of December 31, the PECO Wind program ended, leaving 20,000 customers without service.
The good news for these 20,000 customers--as well as anyone interested in buying renewables--is that there are plenty of
Over the past several years, smart grid technology has been held up as a way to achieve energy independence, combat global warming and improve grid reliability. Who could be against that? But for most consumers, the smart grid is a nebulous, monolithic technological advancement that has little relevance to their everyday lives. It’s hard for
MoreRe:Vision Architecture, the local sustainable design firm responsible for the Fair Food Farmstand and the PECO building’s green roof, recently opened a second location in Berkeley, CA. The move represents an opportunity to share sustainable design ideas between the East and West coasts.
MorePrepare yourselves: In January 2011, electricity rates in Philadelphia will increase, if not skyrocket. Back in 1997, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a deregulation measure that capped utility rates for consumers in preparation for allowing competition—or “Energy Choice”—in the market. PECO’s cap will expire next year, but citizens in other areas of the state
MorePhilly runs on uncertain energy. It’s hard to imagine, but our electricity actually costs less than it could. Currently, our bills are lowered through rate caps applied by the state. On December 31, 2010, those caps expire, prices are expected to spike and no legislation is in place to protect us.
MoreAlternative energy entrepreneur Mike McKinley talks about what solar can do for Philly
by Dana Henry
Mike Mckinley was a cognitive neuroscientist working for Pfizer in southern California when the lights went out. Utility spikes caused by the deregulations of Enron and Reliant Energy (the same will happen with PECO in 2010) had led to a series