emerging technology : Development News

When it comes to historic Philadelphia museums that take seriously their mission of historical accuracy and preservation, perhaps none is quite as accomplished as the Wagner Free Institute of Science, a self-described Victorian natural science and history museum that has been serving the city in North Philadelphia, not far from Temple University, since 1855.

On May 17, for instance, the museum became the recipient of three separate prestigious awards, one of which was the result of a restoration project that managed to update the museum's century-old heating system without sacrificing the historic or the aesthetic integrity of the building.

Ironically, the award--a 2011 Grand Jury Award from the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia--was essentially the result of a 2009 boiler room fire that destroyed the Wagner's ancient Broomell Vapor heating system. Most modern museums, of course, would have simply updated the ruined system, which was installed in 1907, with something new and advanced. But at the quirky Wagner Free Institute, where "little has changed but the century," according to a blurb on its website, "modern" is very rarely equated with "better." And so a series of "green design principles and sustainable practices" were instituted instead, according to a press release. And thanks in large part to an engineering firm known as the Landmark Facilities Group, the Broomell Vapor was saved.

Coincidentally, the Wagner now has another renovation coming its way, thanks to recent funding from the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage's Heritage Philadelphia program. Those funds will be used to update the museum's aged electrical system, and to install new lighting. The Wagner was also recently recognized for the strength of its science programming by the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, and by City Council through its Councilman David Cohen Award.

Source: Abby Sullivan, Wagner Free Institute of Science
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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If you were lucky enough to live on the 800 block of Percy Street in South Philly, you could literally walk out your front door, pour the contents of a bottle of tap water onto the newly-paved street, and then watch as the water slowly began to be sucked up by the street itself, until it eventually disappeared altogether.

That's what happened, at any rate, during a recent press conference that was held on Percy Street's 800 block, which is now home to the city's very first porous street--a street that allows water to soak through its surface, in other words, thereby eliminating the pollutants found in storm water from entering the sewer system.

The street is one of the first initiatives of the Water Department's 25-year-long, $2 billion Green City, Clean Water program, which was itself the result of a directive from the EPA, which insisted that the city fix its combined sewer overflow (CSO) problem. CSO is an unfortunate situation during which sink and toilet water mixes with storm water in local rivers during periods of heavy rain.

According to the Water Department's Joanne Dahme, both the PWD and the Streets Department will be monitoring the effect of Percy Street's porous surface street over the next few years. And as Dahme explains, storm water capture is only one of the benefits of such a surface.

"It seems to have a lot of positive qualities," Dahme says, of the porous surface. Ice is said to melt quicker, for instance, thanks to the warmth of the soil underneath, which also makes snow removal easier. And although the installation of the street was about 10 percent more expensive than it would have been with regular asphalt, the city is already hoping to install many more porous streets in the coming years.

Source: Joanne Dahme, Philadelphia Water Department
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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No matter where in the country you live, you've almost certainly seen the green-and-mustard colored logo of the Houston, Texas-based Waste Management corporation plastered onto the side of a Dumpster, or perhaps a garbage truck. Here in Philadelphia, at least, we'll certainly be seeing a lot more of that familiar logo now that the company has opened a hugely innovative, 60,000-square-foot single-stream recycling facility in the Northeast; it's known as the Philadelphia Material Recovery Facility (MRF).

The LEED Silver-certified facility, which opened in late 2010, held its official grand opening ceremony on April 11. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter was on hand, as were a number of residential and commercial WM customers, who were invited to tour the $20 million facility, which was constructed atop a former brownfield site.

"In general," says George McGrath of McGrath Matter Associates, a public relations firm, "Waste Management has been one of the leading industry leaders in adopting and promoting single-stream recycling. We've got over 30 of these facilities around the country."

Single-stream recycling, he explains, is the process whereby residential and commercial customers alike can place all their recyclables in a single container for pickup, including paper. At the MRF, which is capable of processing more than 20,000 tons of recyclables each month, the materials are almost entirely separated not by human hands, but by advanced technological methods.

McGrath also says that once the facility is fully staffed, roughly 70 new jobs will have been created, with the vast majority of new employees coming from nearby neighborhoods.

"Waste Management built this facility because we really are committed to helping cities and businesses recycle more," McGrath adds. "And in fact, on average, recycling rates go up about 30 percent with the single-stream program. If you make it easier for people to do, they'll do more of it.

Source: George McGrath, McGrath Matter Associates 
Writer: Dan Eldridge 

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A mere five or ten years ago, the relatively simple practice of telecommuting--working from home instead of from a traditional office--was seen as a fairly revolutionary concept. But thanks to the multitude of productivity-enhancing tools that technology has made possible--smart phones, netbooks, Skype, email--members of the so-called creative class have increasingly been transforming not only how and where work gets done, but also how and where life itself gets lived.

During the April 25th installation of the Junto, "a monthly meet-up of hot topics and local issues" organized by the South Philly web design firm P'unk Ave, those very concepts--living and working just about anywhere, with the help of technology--will be discussed, debated, and possibly even expanded upon. (Reception at 6:00pm; discussion at 7:00pm.)

Past P'unk Ave Juntos have explored topics ranging from art criticism to the future of the Free Library. But the upcoming "Rethinking Shelter" Junto will explore the ideas of alternative housing, including cohousing, in which multiple families live together, and even multibasing, a practice in which travelers can share numerous homes in varied locations for short periods of time. "It's not like staying in a hotel," says DiMasi of multibasing, "and it's not like crashing on someone's couch."

The philosophy of the technomad--a knowledge worker who takes advantage of technology to live like a nomad--will also be discussed.

Two founders of Philly's uber-sustainable Postgreen Homes firm will be on the event's panel, and as DiMasi explains, although cohousing was originally based around the idea of family, "one of [Postgreen's] proposed projects is a co-housing place in Fishtown that will be more focused on the young and urban."

"We've had some really interesting discussions," says DiMasi of past Juntos, which have been ongoing since 2006. "And sometimes you don't even know that you care about this stuff!"

Source: Geoff DiMasi, P'unk Ave
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched its hugely popular Energy Star program back in 1992, but during its first few years, the main purpose was simply to promote consumer products that had high levels of energy efficiency, and low levels of greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, when the voluntary labeling program first began, computers were the only products that could earn the prestigious logo. And yet in 1999, the Energy Star label was made available to any commercial building that could meet its stringent environmental requirements. Indeed, only the top 25 percent of the nation's energy efficient structures receive the label.

The good news locally is that the Greater Philadelphia area seems to have embraced the program significantly. On March 15, the EPA announced that because the region added so many energy efficient buildings in 2010 - many of them schools - its national ranking has risen to 14th in the nation, up from its 2009 ranking of 24th.

Indeed, the list of Energy Star-certified buildings in the area stretches to 130, and many of the names are surprisingly familiar: There's the Aramark Tower, for instance, and the Wanamaker Building, and dozens of elementary schools. But perhaps one of the most impressive examples locally is the SEPTA building, where lighting sensors and window film were added in an effort to become certified.

According to the EPA's Emily Linn, this is a hugely significant achievement for the region, partly due to the fact that Energy Star-certified buildings typically use 35 percent less energy, and emit 35 percent less carbon dioxide, than non-certified buildings.

"The efforts of the Mayor's Office of Sustainability certainly helped a lot," she says, referring to the city's newly improved rating. Through the process of being certified, "I think (companies are) realizing they can save a lot of money," she adds. "Honestly, I think the program sells itself."

Source: Bonnie Smith and Emily Linn, EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Office
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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In mid-September 2010, the suburban community of East Norriton, Montgomery County, became a significantly healthier area. That's when the Montgomery Health System broke ground on a 363,000-square-foot hospital in East Norriton that will also include a separate 75,000-square-foot administrative building. All told, it's a $350 million project.

A development project of that scale, of course, would be big news for nearly any community in the region, not to mention one that is home to less than 14,000 residents. And yet just last month, the area experienced another healthcare-related turn of events when it was announced that the East Norriton-based Mercy Suburban Hospital would be replacing its off-site cancer center with a new, state-of-the-art cancer facility that will be located right on its hospital grounds. According to Jeff Snyder, CEO of Mercy Suburban Hospital, the new facility will "consolidate all physician and cancer services for diagnostics, treatment and support care into one brand-new, convenient location on the main campus of the hospital."

Construction of the two-story, $8.5 million development is scheduled to begin this summer, and there's little doubt it will prove to be one of the Greater Philadelphia area's most critical cancer treatment centers. According to Snyder, the advanced radiation treatment offered at the facility will be conducted with cutting-edge technology, including Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) and RapidArc technology. Plans are also in place to create a healing garden where patients can relax and reflect; there will also be a 50-seat conference center onsite where both educational programming and occasional health screenings will take place.

Source: Jeff Snyder, Mercy Suburban Hospital
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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It's certainly no secret, at least to those of us who call Philadelphia home, that the University City district has for many years now been the proverbial nucleus of an incredibly well-connected and highly knowledgeable cluster of medical, science and academic professionals. But unfortunately, the area's so-called 'Eds and Meds' leaders have never fully succeeded in branding their community as one of the nation's most important research centers. That perception--or rather, the lack thereof--may soon be changing, thanks to the work of a newly-formed group calling itself the University City Innovation Collaborative.

The group is being headed by the University City Science Center; the nonprofit University City District; and the Science Center's development partner, a Baltimore company known as Wexford Science and Technology.

The aim of the group, according to Stephen Tang, the Science Center's CEO, involves making University City a world-class innovation center along the lines of similar regions like Cambridge, Mass., and San Francisco's Mission Bay district. And yet what sort of development that will actually entail still remains to be seen, because as Tang explains, "This is all a work in progress; the project doesn't really finish until April."

Part of what the project will almost certainly involve, however, aside from more spaces where innovation can take place, are recreational facilities. "You have to have amenities that allow creative people to be with like-minded people for extended periods of time," Tang says. "So that means retail, it means entertainment, it means after-hours places. All those things need to come together."

Tang is also quick to point out, however, that while "it's important that we have facilities, it's more important who's in those facilities, and for what reason. We need to foster better collaboration between organizations and institutions," he offers. "And that's not only to tell the story, but to build a better story as well."

Source: Stephen Tang, University City Science Center
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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Even for those of you who give only cursory attention to local media outlets, it was nearly impossible over the past week to miss the bevy of economic development-related news coming out of the Navy Yard. Perhaps the most visible had to do with the forthcoming expansion of Urban Outfitters, Inc.; on Feb. 9, Mayor Nutter's office announced that the company will soon occupy two new structures on the campus. According to the Mayor's office, Urban's investment in those two buildings, one of which is the former Navy Yard Cruise Ship Terminal, and which together clock in at slightly more than 100,000 square feet, will total roughly $30 million. What's more, Urban Outfitters says it hopes to add roughly 1,000 new permanent jobs and three additional buildings over the next three years.

The pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline had similar news to share last week: Working with Liberty Property Trust, it plans to build a LEED Platinum Certified building near the Navy Yard's front entrance. It's referring to the structure, which will occupy 205,000 square feet, as "the workplace for the 21st century." Construction of the project, which is being estimated as an $81 million investment, could be complete as early as late summer. GSK will be moving all its 1,300 employees currently working in Center City to the Navy Yard, and according to the Navy Yard's Williams J. Agate Jr., "as part of that move, (GSK is) calling this their North American headquarters."

The recent developments underscore the importance of the major piece tying them all together--the $150 million Clean Energy Campus. "It's a hard topic for people to really understand the significance of," says Agate, "but it very firmly puts Philadelphia in the center of the energy efficiency conversation. And that is right where you want to be."

To learn more about the Clean Energy Campus, click here and here.

Source: Williams J. Agate Jr., Vice President of Navy Yard Management and Development
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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While it's certainly true that there is something inherently quaint and romantic about a major metropolitan subway system that still accepts tokens, as Philadelphia's SEPTA system does, it's also true that technology has a way of moving unstoppably forward. SEPTA's long-discussed plans to replace its own token with a smart card system were unexpectedly canceled when its fiscal year 2011 budget experienced a 25 percent funding reduction. But on Jan. 27, it was announced that the PIDC Regional Center had just as unexpectedly come to SEPTA's rescue: In a proposal recently approved by the SEPTA Board, it was agreed upon that the PIDC would loan the transit system up to $175 million for its smart card project, "as well as related improvements to infrastructure, communications and customer service," according to a press release written by SEPTA Press Officer Andrew Busch. The PIDC is offering the loan at a low interest rate--1.75 percent.

Interestingly enough, SEPTA is planning to implement a fare collection system known as an open system, "where a customer is not going to need a SEPTA fare instrument to ride the system," says Busch. In other words, while smart cards will eventually replace tokens and paper transfers, customers will also have the option of swiping a debit or credit card as they pass through the turnstile. According to Busch, SEPTA is hoping to award a contract to build the new fare system by May or June, and the system is expected to be in place by January 2014.

SEPTA also released a rather ambitious sustainability plan in January known as SEP-TAINABLE: The Route to Regional Sustainability. The plan involves a total of 12 economic, social and environmental goals and initiatives that SEPTA hopes to attain between now and 2015; stay tuned to Flying Kite for more details and information. 

Source: Andrew Busch, SEPTA
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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According to the Environmental Protection Agency, used and unwanted electronics are by far the fastest growing segment of solid waste in the United States. In fact, e-waste, as it's known, has become such a serious issue domestically that President Barack Obama recently created a task force that will be charged with combating the growing problem, which generally begins when electronics end up in landfills, or in developing nations that lack the capacity to dispose of them safely.

And yet in the Greater Philadelphia region, at least, the e-waste situation is about to become a little less dire. That's because the Minnesota-based Materials Processing Company is currently in the midst of constructing an e-waste recycling center on approximately 110,000 square feet of land near the Northeast Airport.

Unfortunately, the facility won't be structured to regularly accept donations from individuals, although according to Alan Yousha, VP of Business Development and Marketing for MPC, residents certainly won't be turned away if they show up with old computer monitors or cell phones.

"It's not so much a residential drop-off site as it is a location that residential drop-off sites will bring material to," explains Yousha, who also claims that Mayor Nutter's Greenworks initiative was a major determining factor in MPC's decision to locate its facility in Philadelphia, as opposed to, say, South Jersey or Central Pennsylvania. "It's clear that they actually want to make this (Greenworks Initiative) happen," Yousha adds. "So that makes it a little easier to function."

MPC, which is an ISO certified company as well as a 100-percent zero landfill company, plans to have its local facility up and running by mid-February at the latest.

Source: Alan Yousha, Materials Processing Company
Writer: Dan Eldridge

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When it was announced in 2008 that Philadelphia would be selected as one of the country's 25 Solar America Cities, the mission was relatively straightforward. It involved the city and the U.S. Department of Energy working together in an effort to "rapidly increase the use and integration of solar energy," according to the program's website.

Last month, the city took a major step towards that goal when it broke ground on its very first municipal-owned solar power plant, a project that was the result of an $850,000 grant from the Department of Energy. The solar photovoltaic system is currently under construction at the Philadelphia Water Department's Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant, where it will be ground-mounted on a little more than an acre of formerly unused land. Its construction is expected to be complete sometime this spring.

According to Paul Kohl, the Philadelphia Water Department's Energy Champion, the plant will produce roughly 300,000 kilowatt hours of energy each year, which is enough to power somewhere between 28 and 30 homes in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

And what of the relatively small size of the plant?

"To give a very pedestrian answer," says Kohl, "the amount of money that we were willing to spend--and that the Mayor's Office of Sustainability was willing to give us--was about the size of the site."

According to Kohl, the city does plan to continue moving forward with the installation of other solar plants at sites much larger than that of the Water Department's. Those installations, however, will be operated through what's known as a Solar Power Purchase Agreement (SPPA) model, in which a developer would design, build and run a solar plant, and the city would then promise to purchase the plant's energy for a specified length of time, usually somewhere between 15 and 20 years.

Source: Paul Kohl, Philadelphia Water Department
Writer: Dan Eldridge

In 2006, West Chester University was gearing up for a major renovation of campus residence halls. But when the conversation came to a new heating and cooling system, it seemed foolish to only replace the central steam system in residence hall buildings without looking at the rest of campus. Replacing a historic campus' entire heating and cooling system would not be easy. But last week, West Chester announced a new grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for $4.7 million that will get the ball rolling on making it Greater Philadelphia's first completely geothermal campus.

"Our renovation plan gave us the opportunity to ask the question 'what is the most efficient way to heat and cool our buildings,'" says WCU Executive Director of Facilities Management Greg Cuprak. "We realized that, over a 10 year period of time, we had planned to renovate over 65 percent of our campus so we had to take it all the way."

Never one to miss a teachable moment, West Chester's Geology Department will be doing experiments as the digging of geothermal wells begins this spring. Students will be researching the differences between the WCU geoexchange system and other types of energy systems to ensure the campus is as efficient as it can be going forward.

"We expect to see a reduction in heating costs by 40 percent and a reduction in cooling by 20 percent," says Cuprak. "Before we started this thing, we were spending $2.6 million heating our campus and around $600,000 a year cooling our campus. So while this is not a short-term process but many years from now, when the last building is no longer being heated with fossil fuels, that is the type of savings you can expect."

Source: Greg Cuprak, West Chester University
Writer: John Steele

As one of the first businesses to establish a presence at the University City Science Center's Port Business Incubator, Integral Molecular built relationships with nearby universities and received instruction from experienced entrepreneurs that helped them stay afloat in the company's pivotal, early years. Now that Integral Molecular is an established company with a 10-year track record of protein and drug discovery research, they are returning the favor with an investment of their own.

This month, Integral Molecular announced a 10,000 sq. ft. expansion to the Science Center that will add new laboratory and office space to 3711 Market Street. Since launching in 2001, Integral Molecular has grown to inhabit nearly half of the incubator space at 3701 Market Street. This build-out comes on the heels of a 10-year lease with the Science Center, keeping biotech jobs in Philadelphia and adding 10 new positions to this growing firm.

"We have been able to customize the features we wanted here all along," says Integral Molecular President and CSO Benjamin Doranz. "The building itself is designed to house lab-based biotech companies like ourselves so putting in the kinds of features we need--like chemical hoods, required ventilation--those kinds of features are already designed into the building, making things easier for us."

The addition, which is 60 percent new lab space, will bring features like sterile tissue-culture rooms, lab glass washers, purified water systems and improved ventilation systems. But the main feature of the addition is space, allowing Integral Molecular to meet the demands of many pharma projects it hopes to pursue in 2011. The addition is currently under construction and expected to open in March.

"We have labs at 3701 but we are really outgrowing them," says Doranz. "This will give us lab space that is not necessarily better in general but better for us because they are customized for exactly what we do."

Source: Benjamin Doranz, Integral Molecular
Writer: John Steele

Every Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles bring green power to Lincoln Financial Field with a crushing defense and a youthful, high-powered offense. But a new proposal is set to bring green power off the field and spread it to the rest of the Linc. On Nov. 18, the Philadelphia Eagles announced plans to create a $30 million, on-site energy generation system complete with wind turbines and solar panels that will instantly transfer 15-20 percent of the Linc's output to renewable energy, while an on-site co-generation power plant will take care of the rest.Through a partnership with Orlando, Fla. firm Solar Blue, Lincoln Financial Field becomes the world's first major sports stadium to convert to self-generated renewable energy.

"Pennsylvania has been a regulated state with rate caps and those rate caps are expected to expire at the end of this year," says Lincoln Financial Field COO Don Smolenski. "The information we were getting was that electricity costs were going to go up 30-40 percent. With electricity being our biggest line item for the stadium, we started exploring our options."

The installation, with an expected completion date of September 2011, contains 80 spiral-shaped wind turbines along the roof of the structure, affixes 2,500 solar panels to the facade and brings an on-site, co-generation power plant to the parking lot. The plant, which will handle the majority of the energy load, runs on biodiesel or natural gas. SolarBlue will  own and operate the stadium's power system for the next 20 years, selling the power to the Eagles at a fixed rate. The proposal is expected to save the team an estimated $60 million in energy costs.

"The vertical-shaped turbines appealed to us aesthetically and are less noisy than traditional turbines," says Smolenski. "Not only is it good for our electricity rates, we feel these turbines really enhance the look of the stadium."

Source: Don Smolenski, Lincoln Financial Field
Writer: John Steele

University of Pennsylvania's board of trustees this week gave the go-ahead for Shoemaker Green, the sustainable landscape project unveiled in May that will connect the Palestra and Franklin Field. After being chosen in May as one of more than 150 pilot projects to test a new LEED-based ratings system for landscape design, Shoemaker Green's design plan, created by local architects Andropogon Associates, received a budget of $8 million to complete the park, which officials hope will provide a more pleasing pathway between the Penn campus and the new Penn Park at S. 31st Street.

"The design of Shoemaker Green continues Penn's open space tradition," says Penn's VP of Facilities and Real Estate Services Anne Papageorge. "By linking College Green via Smith Walk to Penn Park, Shoemaker Green incorporates numerous sustainable features, providing a passive recreational landscape surrounded by the iconic historic buildings of the Palestra and Franklin Field."

Shoemaker Green hopes to address serious stormwater runoff issues present on the underutilized former greyfield parcel at 33rd Street. By adding three rain gardens, porous pavers, a cistern for rainwater reuse and tree trenches, architects and Penn officials hope to absorb some of the rainwater known to flood local buildings. The land will also be used to test innovative new storm water management technologies.

The open center of the project is adaptable to a variety of special events, like commencement and the Penn Relays. The lawn can accommodate large groups as well as those looking for a secluded area to hold an outdoor class or have a quiet lunch.

Source: University of Pennsylvania
Writer: John Steele