Philadelphia

Benzene emissions at shuttered South Philly refinery exceeded federal limits last year, report finds

The Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery in South Philadelphia last year emitted average airborne benzene levels at triple a federal threshold, even though the site had been closed since 2019 due to an explosion and fire,...Read more

A carbon pledge, a bag ban, a tree plan: Philly’s year in environmental news and what’s next

This article highlights the biggest environmental news coming from Philadelphia in the year 2021. 

  • "Philadelphia vowed to be carbon neutral by 2050. One strategy for meeting this goal comes from Philly's Building Energy Performance Program, which requires all non-residential
  • ...Read more
This initiative from Philadelphia Energy Authority is connecting programs and organizations to support homeowners in low-income housing

This article, published in August of 2021, is about a new program being piloted by the Philadelphia Energy Authority (PEA), called the Build to Last Program. PEA is hoping to make the energy assistance network in Philadelphia less siloed by connecting homeowners who apply to...Read more

The Energy Vulnerability Lab - Participant Observation Exercise

I am currently out of the country so my heater system is not accessible to me. So, I connected with my friend, Mona who lives in Philadelphia, PA. The questions seemed simple enough when we started, but as we went along, we found out that we have not been paying much attention to our heating...Read more

Educating on renewables

Coming off our EVP group discussion on Friday (July 3rd) about the brand ambassadors that Solarize Philly uses, I was interested to see that The Energy Co-op had run a similar peer-to-peer...Read more

Philadelphia rate board gives water customers some relief

This article outlines the 2018 water rate increase in Philadelphia, designed as an 11% increase for households over three years. We are reading and reflecting on this increase in relation to the proposed 2021 water rate increase of 17.5%, which is set to go into effect during the pandemic.Read more

Philly is ready to start fighting climate change again

As President-Elect Biden stated, there is a pontential for the US to re-enter the Paris Agreement for climate change goals to be achieved by 2050. Philadelphia had continued to follow the climate provisions thanks to Mayor Kenney's commitment even despite President Trump's withdrawal from the...Read more

The Energy Rights Project - April 2021 Newsletter

This artifact is the Energy Rights Project's first research newsletter, published in April 2021. The purpose of the newsletter is to provide members of the public and our collaborators with updates on what our research team members have been working on, and in this newsletter these updates...Read more

Philly’s next crop of city buildings will be greener under bill passed by Philly Council

 

A new bill, passed by the Philadelphia City Council will set requirements for new construction projects including on-site renewable energy, optimized energy performance, and sustainable materials. According to the article, "Many new city buildings...Read more

Subscribe to Philadelphia