Sustainability : In The News

Check out Kensington urban farmer Nic Esposito's Notes From the Urban Homestead series in Paradigm Magazine.

For many people, the concept of farming in any city is strange, let alone in this neighborhood. No matter that there’s a family who lives out of their car, or a heroin addict who sleeps in the park all winter, or a woman who prostitutes herself just for a bed to spend the night and maybe a hot shower: I’m the weird one on the block. But that doesn’t bother me. We all have to fit somewhere in this world.

Original source: Paradigm Magazine
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The Sip...A Wine Store in Cary, N.C. sells organic, sustainably produced wines and recently did a testing with Chester Springs-based Y + B Wines, which gives new life to boxed varieties.

The organic wine business, although only 3% of all wine sold, is the fastest growing segment, experiencing 35% growth last year. Y+B ‘s business has quadrupled since opening in their base town of Philadelphia.

Original source: Cary Citizen
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The Philadelphia Flower Show, which came to a close on Sunday, went Hawaiian this year, and judging by these reports from WHYY, Forbes and Big Island, Aloha is a five-letter word for breathtaking.

(from Forbes) The central thematic display this year is the "Orchid Wave," a semi-enclosed glass space in the shape of a wave with projections of 3-D fish, sea turtles, surfers, and other images that roll over the heads of visitors. Between the segments of constantly moving 3-D scenery are rows of what Flower Show officials say is the largest display of white orchids and anthuriums ever assembled. It has the feeling of being in an aquarium as it does a wave.

Original sources: WHYY, Forbes and Big Island

It has been 40 years since new ship construction at Navy shipyards ended, and Area Development delves into redevelopment at a few, including the transformation in South Philly's Philadelphia Navy Yard.

The 167-acre historic core of the Navy Yard, with more than 2.5 acres of waterfront, is actually on the National Register of Historic Places. The core offers opportunities for renovation of existing buildings for commercial use, and for the conversion of older loft space to residential use.

Original source: Area Development
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Triple Pundit reports on the Philadelphia Water Department's partnership with Texas-based Aeresco on a $47.5 million wastewater-to-biogas facility, which will have a capacity of 5.6 megawatts and is expected to save PWD $12 million on its energy bill over the course of a 16-year contract.

That’s part of a broader renewable energy goal the city set under its sustainability plan. In 2008 Philadelphia received only 2.4 percent of its electricity from alternative sources, and the aim is to get that up to 20 percent by 2015.

Wastewater treatment plants naturally produce copious amounts of biogas, since they involve the fairly straightforward process of  decomposition. As microorganisms digest the organic material in wastewater, they produce gas. In the past, the gas was simply flared off for safety and odor prevention, but with impurities removed biogas can be stored, transported and used just like any other gas.

Original source: Triple Pundit
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Berwyn-based B Lab is leading the push for Benefit Corporation legislation in Oregon, reports Sustainable Business Oregon.

The legislation would provide a legal framework for companies to register as a company dedicated to providing a public benefit. The designation would be available as an option alongside C Corporation or S Corporation.

Similar legislation has been passed in California, Vermont, Hawaii, New York, Maryland and New Jersey and is pending in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and the District of Columbia.

Original source: Sustainable Business Oregon
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The Architects Newspaper is a fan of green developer Onion Flats and its project known as The Ridge, which includes plans for the nation's largest Passive House, a net-zero energy building.

Onion Flats plans a new five-story structure to include 8,700 square feet of retail on the ground floor that will anchor a plaza along the river, and 126 predominantly one- and two-bedroom units above. McDonald said The Ridge’s design is an interpretation of the classic Philly townhome and its sociable stoop. Residences are clustered around a second-floor garden serving as a communal gathering space, reinforced by an open interior circulation system of elevated platforms. Special attention was paid to creating a building that uses a minimum of resources, generating its own power from a 200-kilowatt solar array, and includes a completely permeable, green-roof covered site.

Original source: The Architects Newspaper
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Smart Planet brings us up to speed on Postgreen and its new home construction innovations.

With one house sold and three in the works, the Avant Garage project on Memphis Street is among Postgreen’s most expensive undertakings. (The base price of an Avant Garage house is $355,000.) Each home has a roof deck and a two-car garage. To cater to the neighborhood’s artists and professionals, the garage situates vehicles in front of each other, rather than side-by-side, and has a second door opening to the backyard. The idea is to create space suitable for a studio or workshop.

Original source: Smart Planet
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The American Planning Association's Sustaining Places blog takes a look at how zoning code reform in Philadelphia is promoting sustainability.

Early in the zoning reform process, the new Zoning Code Commission agreed on a set of seven broad goals for the new code. Four of these goals addressed code structure and administration: simplify base districts, simplify overlay districts, simplify approvals, and improve readability and reorganization. The other three goals aimed more at the substance of the code: protect neighborhoods, promote sustainability, and promote quality and design.

Original source: American Planning Association Sustaining Places blog
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