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
More
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
More
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.
More
When faulty equipment at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) oil refinery caused an explosion on June 21, 2019, Carol White jolted awake and raced downstairs in her Grays Ferry home to investigate. She opened her front door and ash swept into her mouth and eyes, nearly blinding her and blocking her airways. As plumes of
More
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
More
On April 13, the day Mayor Cherelle Parker declared Vegan Cheesesteak Day, the American Vegan Center, headquartered in Old City, held its annual vegan cheesesteak contest, but with a record-breaking challenge: create the longest vegan cheesesteak, totaling 76 inches as a tribute to the revolutionary year of 1776. Vegetarianism and Philadelphia may seem like odd
More
Donald Rumsfeld famously, or maybe infamously, once said, “[T]here are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”
More
President Joe Biden visited Philadelphia in 2023 to make a big energy announcement: the Philadelphia area would be home to MACH2, a new hydrogen hub, one of seven nationwide. But a year and a half into the second Trump administration, the project’s future is uncertain. The Biden administration planned to pump $7 billion into regional
More
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.
More
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
More