Fri, 5 March 2010  This week’s podcast features an interview with PennFuture’s Sharon Pillar and the Rev. Dr. Samuel W. Ware, Executive Director, Building United of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Building United’s mission is helping families throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania fulfill their dreams of affordable homeownership and to teach people sound money management principles. Dr. Ware discusses how BUSP started, and their success in moving low and moderate income families into homes that are also energy efficient. This is a project of the faith community, grounded in faith, started by African American clergy in 2001. PennFuture works every day to make a difference for Pennsylvania’s environment and economy. Isn’t it time to join us and make a difference yourself? Go to our secure website to join PennFuture, and make sure you sign up for our publications. And remember, you can make sure you don't miss any podcasts by subscribing to them through iTunes. Comments[0] |
Fri, 30 October 2009 by Christine Knapp, Director of Outreach We arrived in Hamburg, our third and last destination on Thursday. Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany with 1.8 million people and 4.5 million in the region. Hamburg is unique in that it is a city and one of the 16 German states. This allows the city to assume a larger role in state issues like policing and schools. Hamburg is a shockingly big city, especially in comparison to quaint Leipzig, and for the first time in our trip, we used public transportation to go everywhere. After having lunch with local experts who gave us a general overview of the city, we traveled to visit the Plus Energie Haus- a winner in the Solar Decathlon competition. The model home is open to the public and features passive design features such as high insulation, solar gains, and intelligent sun protection as well as active features like energy efficient appliances, solar thermal collectors and photovoltaic arrays. With an estimated cost of 1.5 million euros, the house is not cheap, but for a long-term owner the energy savings as well as the ability to sell electricity to the grid would make it more attractive. The delegation next visited the Hamburg Stadtmodell (a
building housing a full city model) and learned that Hamburg has been named the
European Green Capital of 2011 by the European Union. The aim of the award is
to recognize city with high environmental standards, encourage other cities to
adopt ambitious goals and to highlight best practices. (On a side note,
Pittsburgh has been named the latest North American Green Capital). Cities are rated using many indicator areas, including
transportation, ambient air, waste water, land use, noise pollution and open
areas. Hamburg rated well in all areas,
and out of 35 cities that applied, they were included in the top eight and
ultimately won the 2011 title. But, Hamburg is not an eco-topia. They still struggle with several major challenges. As their need for residential and industrial space increases, land is becoming scarce. To address this, Hamburg is finding innovative ways to reuse industrial areas, such as the HafenCity development (which we will tour on Friday). Hamburg is also a major port city, which can lead to many air pollution and other environmental problems. They are addressing this by increasing use of container taxis (one taxi replaces 66 trucks) and creating a land electricity supply for ships. Another challenge is increasing traffic, so Hamburg officials are building new train lines to the airport, to the new HafenCity development, as well as doubling their network of bicycle paths and creating low emission zones. And lastly, Hamburg recognizes its vulnerability to climate change, especially the risk of rising sea levels as Hamburg is intersected by waterways. To address this problem, they have created a comprehensive climate policy. The Hamburg Climate Action Strategy was presented to us by Peter Lindlahr, from the Coordination Center for Climate Issues. This ambitious plan includes 350 projects and initiatives to reorganize the energy supply in a sustainable way, to provide economic stimulus and to be proactive in climate protection. Peter shared with us 5 "Drivers of Change” within the Action plan: 1) Retrofitting public buildings, exemplified by installing photovoltaic arrays on a cultural center and working with fire and police stations to be more energy efficient. 2) Public Transport projects, such as pursuing a fuel cell hydrogen powered bus (to be toured on Friday), providing automatic driving recommendations for energy efficient train operation, returning of braking energy into electricity network and building new train lines. 3) Information and Communication Technology (ICT) including innovation through smart grid, smart homes and smart meters 4) Potential energy savings for historic buildings is being studied in a report, and thermopictures of buildings are demonstrating the leakage of old buildings 5) Combined Heat and Power (CHP) in which Hamburg is pursuing the implementation of up to 100 gas-driven power generation units with CHP technology With just two days left, the delegation is starting to
compile our takeaway ideas and thinking about how to apply what we have learned back
in our home cities. And of course we're all eager to shop for souvenirs and to
sample the local beer and chocolates! Category: Green Cities -- posted at: 1:26 PM Comments[0] |
Fri, 3 October 2008  In this week's podcast, Pam Fendrock, PennFuture's outreach coordinator for northeastern Pennsylvania, spoke to Joe Collins, general manager of VaxServe, a sanofi pasteur company, at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Scranton on October 2, 2008. They were at VaxServe's Go Green! initiative launch.Collins talks about some of the steps VaxServe has taken to be environmentally conscious in its day-to-day operations. He then describes the Go Green! Summit as a next step in VaxServe's eco-friendly endeavors. The summit opened with Collins and Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty, who welcomed VaxServe employees and the more than 20 environmentally conscious businesses and public interest organizations that had been invited to set up information tables in one of the hotel's ballrooms. The mayor talked about the importance of keeping Scranton green not only for environmental, but also for economic reasons. When he left, a recent television commercial that promotes the importance of keeping Scranton clean looped on a monitor in a corner of the room. The stars of the commercial? Mayor Doherty and Kevin, a character from The Office television program, which is set in Scranton. About 100 employees visited each exhibitor's booth, listened to mini presentations and gathered information. Presenters signed cards to confirm attendance at each booth. The employees then turned in their completed cards, received BPA-free water bottles, and were entered to win other prizes. Comments[0] |
Wed, 28 March 2007  The world's population has just reached the point where 50 percent is urbanized and the other half is not. As a result, development pressure is increasing at an ever-faster rate, and open space is disappearing. But there are ways to discourage sprawl and to redirect development. In this podcast, Sustainable Pittsburgh's Court Gould, recently featured at the event "Pittsburgh: A Humane Metropolis," shares concrete examples from Pittsburgh, describing ways that the region that is our metropolis can and is being developed in a humane way. The Humane Metropolis is defined as a city that develops through an understanding that space is a finite commodity. Building green, environmentally-friendly buildings and neighborhoods, utilizing previously-developed space through rehabilitation, creative urban planning, and maintaining a clear focus on the arts and cultural development are all hallmarks of a Humane Metropolis. Pittsburgh ranks at the top of U.S. cities when measured in those fields. Whether it's greening our hospitals, enacting permanent zoning protections for our hillsides, bringing car-sharing to the city through a new endeavor with Flexcar (PennFuture is a charter member!), or providing education to residents about energy efficiency, these and hosts of other reasons make Pittsburgh a leader nationwide. Listen as Court describes how Pittsburgh is well on the path to becoming a truly Humane Metropolis. To learn more about the many organizations and initiatives mentioned in the podcast, peruse the following list. We welcome your comments below; simply click on "Comments." For more information about the work PennFuture is doing to support Pittsburgh's environment, communities, and economy, visit our Web site or e-mail us at podcast (at) pennfuture (dot) org. Sites to visit for more information: Green Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University East Liberty Development Incorporated Comments[0] |
Fri, 2 March 2007  How could the dinner you cook tonight or the birthday gift you purchase help a small village in Africa, Asia, or Latin America? If they are fair trade products, they've been produced sustainably, under safe working conditions, at a fair price, and recognizing high labor and gender equity standards. It's easy to overlook the growing amount of fair trade products available at local stores. Sometimes these ambiguous products easily blend in on the shelf with their competition. If you're lucky, you may find that they have their own section. Look for the Fairtrade label. The fair trade movement has taken firm root in Europe, and is now only beginning to get seeded in the United States. Learn more about the various individuals, businesses, and organizations Joy meets in this podcast. Many are endorsers of PennFuture's Cool Pennsylvania campaign, aimed at stopping global warming right here at home:
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