Like a lot of Grid readers, I’m still adjusting to the reality of the 2024 presidential election. There is my conscious perception of reality, based on the facts of the world, and there is my gut-level sense of reality, colored by how I think the world should be. The two are out of whack. Case
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A few years ago, Cora Wyent, senior director of research at electrification nonprofit Rewiring America, and her partner were weighing the purchase of an induction oven to replace the old gas model in their kitchen. Induction ovens run off electricity and, thanks to some fascinating engineering, boast such perks as cooking elements that not only
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In 2024, to celebrate her 75th birthday, Aminata Calhoun took a trip to Spain for some much-needed rest and relaxation. After a few weeks of soaking in the picturesque Spanish scenery, she returned home to a landscape starkly different from the one she had left. Surrounding the lot at Belmont and Wyalusing avenues that she
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On most weekdays, Tariem Burroughs takes his first grader to school on the Route 21 bus, so his husband, Nick, gets their son dressed and ready. Nick manages the moods of the six-year-old, sure, but it’s Burroughs who deals with the piece of the morning puzzle that’s both unpredictable and beyond the family’s control: SEPTA.
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The year is 2050. On every street across the wide expanse of the United States, nearly every vehicle that goes by emits only the quiet whine of an electric motor. A few folks still ride by in antique, gas-powered cars, but in many places such vehicles are greatly outnumbered even by electric bikes. The houses
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In 2020, members of POWER Interfaith, a grassroots social justice organization with a mission to “shine a light on broken systems,” organized to push PECO, Pennsylvania’s largest electric and gas utility, to incorporate long-term contracts for renewable energy into its Default Service Program (DSP). The DSP is essentially the company’s “house special,” and about 75%
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Every Monday around 9 a.m., Kimberton Waldorf School’s Food for Thought lunch program stocks up on Seven Stars Farm maple and vanilla yogurt. Located just across the street, the biodynamic farm is among the many local food producers and growers the school uses to source ingredients for their daily lunch menu. The agricultural hub of
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Founded in 2020, Rewiring America is the nation’s leading nonprofit for helping Americans electrify their homes. Their task is a challenging one. Electrification can be a confusing endeavor, with homeowners often left on their own to figure out what to electrify first, when to do it, how to get started and what financial incentives they’re
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Several times a week, John Boyle, research director for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, rides the power of electricity to work. A resident of Edgewater Park, New Jersey, Boyle rides a foldable e-bike to the Beverly Rail Station, which he takes aboard NJ Transit’s River Line to Camden. If the weather is nice, he’ll
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Who you are determines how well and how long you live. In 2012 the life expectancy for white Philadelphians was 78 years, versus 73 for Black Philadelphians, according to the latest Health of the City Report, produced by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. In 2019 that five-year gap remained, and it widened to six
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