Energy

Professor Interview Series: Dr. Metin Duran, Environmental Engineering Driving home from Phillies games, I would watch the lights of the city race by in the backseat of my dad’s car. Along what seemed like an endless stretch of highway, I always...

What would happen if the Philadelphia Oil Refinery had an incident? Do you know what to do if there was a shale oil train explosion? Whether you’ve considered these questions before, Philadelphia is in a danger zone. MNN declared Philadelphia...

The Clean Air Council and Solar States are teaming up to teach a class devoted to solar workforce development at YouthBuild Philadelphia this fall. The opportunity to teach this class has been made possible by the great folks at YouthBuild Philadelphia, grants...

How are Philly's buildings faring with energy use? Just like we hinted in our recap of what Philly's doing to prep for climate change, the Mayor's Office of Sustainability (MOS) released results of Philly's Energy benchmarking program yesterday. The Year Two benchmarking results are available online to download. Don't feel like reading the whole thing? Highlights of the 2014 Philly Building Energy Benchmarking Report include:

Over 400,000 individuals invaded New York on Sunday to make a statement to world leaders about climate change. Mayor's National Climate Action Agenda Yesterday, Mayor Michael Nutter announced the formation of the Mayor's National Climate Action Agenda with Mayors Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles and Annise Parker of Houston. Nutter is currently in New York City for the Clinton Global Initiative meeting and was announced on day one of Climate Week, an international platform for government, business and civil society to work together on low carbon solutions to the climate change crisis. Find out more about the Mayor's new initiative, and what Philadelphia & Pennsylvania are doing about climate change, after the jump.

This post is brought to you by Solar States. We may have heard mixed messages about Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking”: it’s good for the local economy because we do not have to import it/it is a “transition fuel” however, the  contaminated water, radioactive water and threat of pipelines locally outweigh any of these menial pros that fracking fans may conjure up.  Plus, continuing to risk natural resources as Governor Tom Corbett recently signed legislation allowing fracking in state forests and parks. Continuing to risk natural resources- especially spaces that were once protected by state and national law - is unacceptable. There's good news though:  We already have an acceptable alternative that works locally: solar.

Philadelphia can brag about another top 10 list - this time, with energy efficient buildings. Philly is #9 of ENERGY STAR buildings! Philly has entered the top 10 list for the first time.

Ever wonder what local environmental orgs do to help push for a cleaner Philadelphia? Clean Air Council's Russell Zerbo shares with us today as guest blogger about a recent meeting with PA State Representative Curtis Thomas. A Day in the Life of Clean Air Council Part of my initiatives in the Clean Air Council is to improve energy efficiency working with local government officials. Pennsylvania's once innovative Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard to encourage renewable sources is now way behind the times. We (Clean Air Council) sat down with Solar States’ Akil Marsh and State Representative Curtis Thomas to discuss how Pennsylvania can support solar power and other energy issues. Find out more, after the jump!

This is our final installment in the guest posts from Dave Greene of Clean Currents. It’s not easy being green. Especially in a society that keeps begging you to buy stuff you don’t need, eat food that isn’t really food, and use up fossil fuels like there’s no tomorrow. Well guess what, if we keep on burning fossil fuels there may actually be no tomorrow! I know, I know, it’s scary, but we have to face the fact that we’re seriously messing up this planet we’re so lucky to call home. Lucky for you, even though it’s not easy being green in general, there’s one incredibly easy thing you can do to slash your carbon footprint and help pave the way for a better world: switch to wind power.