Emerging Technology : Development News

Being a 'green' web design firm is something Yikes! Inc. owners Mia and Tracy Levesque take very seriously. Founded as a triple bottom line business in 1996, the company has collected a slew of green business awards and certifications. Yikes is a member of the Sustainable Business Network, a Certified B Corporation, owners of a Green America's Business Seal of Approval, and even provide discounts for businesses with similar commitments.

This week, the company takes its environmental mission one step further as construction began on Yikes' new headquarters. Rehabbing a vacant building on the 200 block of Girard Avenue, the Yikes team is creating a LEED Platinum office with attached residential units, hoping to add sustainable real estate to their list of green achievements.

"I have always loved these vacant, run-down, but architecturally beautiful buildings so when I made the decision to buy a building for our business, I come across these buildings and they look terrible but I think they look beautiful," says Tracy. "I decided then that I wanted to do this renovation project even though I know it would be a lot easier to just move in somewhere that was ready to go."

To get to LEED Platinum, there is a lot of planning involved. The HVAC system has to be tested and retested for efficiency, all the materials used have to be reclaimed through Greensaw, and all electricity will be purchased from the Energy Co-Op. But as much as they are doing, Tracy says they wish they could do more.

"Unfortunately solar had to be taken out of the budget but my goal is, within the next few years, to find the money to get solar put back on," says Tracy. "Being able to go beyond our own consumption to create our own electricity would just be the best."

Source: Tracy Levesque, Yikes Inc.
Writer: John Steele

In certain circles, hybrid cars are cool. But among most car enthusiasts and auto mechanics, saving the planet takes a backseat to speed, torque and good, old-fashioned muscle. Al Rivera wants to change all that as he opens H3 Hybrids this week. The garage at 1221 Frankford Ave. in Northern Liberties will be the first non-dealer hybrid garage in Philadelphia and will carry a small inventory of used hybrids. With a background in engineering, Rivera says he began researching the technology when his wife bought a hybrid and became fascinated. He says the cars for sale will display innovations in hybrid technology that you won't find at your local Toyota dealer.

"I only have space for about five cars on the lot so I am going to have one or two conventional ones," says Rivera. "But I'd like to showcase a car with a 100-mile-per-gallon conversion, with a plug that plugs into your house with any extension cord."

The space was run as a garage and forklift repair shop with few customers in the past, so Rivera had the neighborhood on his side and, now that he has passed the Zoning Board, he hopes to show his friends and neighbors that hybrids can be just as appealing to motorheads as tree-huggers.

"If you are stuck on the Schuylkill or in city traffic for two hours, you are only getting two to three miles per gallon," says Rivera. "But with a hybrid, we can get you 40-50 miles per gallon, no matter what the traffic looks like. And when you are driving in a city, a gas motor is very inefficient."

Source: Al Rivera, H3 Hybrids
Writer: John Steele

In Philadelphia, the Center City District has become a household name. With its jump-suited juggernaut keeping the streets clean and planning publications that are leading the direction of Philadelphia's potent downtown, hometown accolades are never in short supply. But it's always nice when outsiders let you know that your work matters on a national level. Last week, D.C.-based International Downtown Association announced CCD's Philadelphia Retail Marketing Alliance as the recipient for its Downtown Pinnacle Award in Marketing and Communications. Also announced last week, Harvard's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation acknowledged CCD's Public Spaces Initiative in its inaugural Bright Ideas program.

"It was an honor to be considered for this award," says Public Space Collaborative leader Bill Hughes. "Everyone in the collaborative really takes pride in what they are doing and this really validates everything that we do and the fact that we work as a team in Center City to create a positive environment."

Both projects used technology in new ways to organize varied information, helping Center City's planning and improvement efforts run more smoothly. The Philadelphia Retail Marketing Alliance created a partnership between Center City businesses, which directed all marketing resources toward the same goal. CCD created a website, PhiladelphiaRetail.com, that brings all the information needed to conduct business in Center City together in one location. With the Public Spaces Collaborative, CCD staff used handheld computers to record and map potholes, broken windows and graffiti, getting alerts to the right agencies. 

"This is another nice accolade to have under our belt," says PRMA leader Ivy Olesh. "We work with so many different landlords and developers and retailers and brokers, it's nice to say that this project is something that is nationally recognized."

Source: Ivy Olesh and Bill Hughes, CCD
Writer: John Steele

Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey announced last Tuesday that Pennsylvania would receive $47 million in federal transit and infrastructure grants as part of the Federal Transit Administration's State of Good Repair program. As SEPTA updated its hybrid bus fleet two years ago, the lion's share of the funding went to Pittsburgh's Allegheny County Port Authority for a clean diesel fleet of their own. But SEPTA didn't come away empty handed, receiving $8.1 million for two infrastructure improvements a long time coming.

The first grant will revamp SEPTA's Parkside Bus Loop, helping reconnect this West Philly neighborhood. But the second, more universal improvement will aid in future upgrades. Using $6.4 million, SEPTA will install an asset management system to aid in record-keeping as many of Philadelphia's transit assets come up for repairs.

"A lot of our infrastructure dates back to the early 1900's and were taken over from other private companies," says SEPTA CFO Richard Burnfield. "What the FTA was trying to focus on is knowing what you have out there in the field before you can make an assessment as to what your overall needs are, coming up with a plan for when things should be replaced."

The system will help SEPTA keep better records so when funding is available, the authority can make a more organized, more compelling case for further federal dollars as the fleet is upgraded.

"Right now, we do a very good job of managing our assets so while the records are not as computerized as we'd like them to be, we have so much knowledge within our engineering staff that I feel we make excellent decisions," says Burnfield. "But I think this will help us going forward so we can do a second check on things as our staff reaches retirement."

Source: Richard Burnfield, SEPTA
Writer: John Steele

When it comes to sharing experiences, Barney Leonard just can't help himself. As a veteran of corporate communications, Leonard has spent his career blogging and filming for profit. After five years searching for a home in Chester County, Leonard and his wife stumbled on a piece of land with views of the Brandywine River, nestled in the wooded seclusion of Pocopson Township near Chadds Ford. They decided to build their dream home and they decided to build it green. Leonard began chronicling the experience on a blog, 60BraggHill.com, named for the lot, in order to make some extra revenue and gain community support. This week, after three years of well-documented battles with state and federal regulators and Mother Nature herself, construction began on 60 Bragg Hill, the most sustainable property in Chester County.

"We decided that, not that we are tree huggers, but if you are going to start from scratch, why not be smart and use green building techniques," says Leonard. "What we didn't realize is how difficult that would be to do. We just broke ground but it took a long, long time."

As his project ran into several roadblocks, the blog became increasingly dramatic, gaining hundreds of weekly readers. For one thing, the wood from their property had been pillaged by loggers, leaving only stumps and remnants that had to be collected for construction. The property nudged up against the natural habitat of the endangered Bog Turtle, living in nearby wetlands. It wasn't easy being green, especially with an audience. But eventually, local construction companies began helping out, hoping to show off their sustainable abilities, and community support kept pressure on the powers-that-be. Today, Leonard firmly believes that without the blog, he never would have gotten this far.

"I will say this: the government agencies who issue permits and environmental groups who provide clearances for land disturbance tend to be highly conservative and overly cautious because these issues are new," says Leonard. "I want to go through this so maybe it will be a little bit easier for the next guy."

Source: Barney Leonard, 60BraggHill.com
Writer: John Steele

In science fiction novels and books about the future, a few technologies are boilerplate: flying cars, meals in pill form and the ability to teleport instantly from place to place. National commuter rail company Amtrak took another step toward teleportation on Tuesday with its announcement of a high-speed rail vision plan. In Tuesday's news conference from University City's 30th Street Station, with Governor Ed Rendell on hand, Amtrak officials laid out their goal to create a line with average speeds well over 130 mph, saving passengers between one and two hours on average.

"Amtrak is putting forward a bold vision of a realistic and attainable future that can revolutionize transportation, travel patterns and economic development in the Northeast for generations," says Amtrak President and CEO Joseph Boardman.

The plan, entitled A Vision for High-Speed Rail in the Northeast Corridor, proposes a full build-out to be completed by 2040. Its construction, Amtrak says, would create more than 40,000 full-time jobs annually over a 25-year period, building new track, tunnels, bridges, stations, and other infrastructure. Predictably, the cost for such a project is high, $4.7 billion annually over 25 years. But Amtrak's feasibility studies peg the Northeast as a "mega-region" capable of drawing the type of rail traffic to make such an investment profitable. And with some premier legislative voices like New Jersey's Frank Lautenberg and Massachusetts' John Kerry already voicing their support, we may be teleporting out of 30th Street Station sooner than we think.

"Amtrak's High Speed Rail plan will create jobs, cut pollution and help us move towards a modern and reliable transportation system network in the Northeast," said Kerry in a recent statement. "As countries around the world continue to build out their transportation systems, we
cannot afford to fall further behind. This is an important down payment on the massive commitment necessary to bridge our infrastructure gap." 

Source: Joseph Boardman, Amtrak
Writer: John Steele

University of Pennsylvania's campus stretches across University City. But ever since the redevelopment of Locust Walk five years ago, the walk's endpoint at 40th and Walnut has been the undisputed hub of Quaker campus life. With gathering points like the Bridge movie theater and Marathon Grill, seminal college establishments like Smokey Joes, and massive grocery store the Fresh Grocer, the block has everything a college student could want. But with a new design competition hitting the streets this week, Penn students have the chance to give something back to everybody's favorite block.

In partnership with the University of Pennsylvania, University City District brings four design teams from the Design School and the School of Engineering to square off for the 40th Street Sustainability Smackdown. Each team has been assigned a business and must design a sustainability plan that will add renewable energy, reduce stormwater and air pollution, and work with alternative building materials. These efforts will culminate in an energy audit and creation of a comprehensive proposal for one of the participating buildings. The final review of plans and awards ceremony is set for Nov. 19.

"They are all very different," says UCD Project Manager Carolyn Hewson. "The Fresh Grocer is a larger structure that contains a garage, Marathon is  a restaurant, Metropolitan Bakery is a historic building so they all come with their own challenges."

Efforts to make local buildings more sustainable are part of the design and engineering programs at Penn and part of a concerted effort to continue development at the campus' hub. After partnering with Penn, Hewson sent e-mails to neighborhood businesses and even went door-to-door to create a buzz around the program. But if her instincts are correct, the competition will create a buzz all its own.

"Its a popular thing to do right now to have competitions to get greater interest and energy behind something," says Hewson. "And competitions within the design world yield great results and draw funding behind the winning team."

Source: Carolyn Hewson, UCD
Writer: John Steele
 

A new proposal from West Philadelphia after-school innovators Hybrid X Engineering Team could lead the public school system in a greener direction, using sustainable rehabilitation including green roofs and solar panels as a hands-on teaching tool, and keeping the next generation of students where they belong.

As part of a submission to GE's annual EcoMagination Challenge, the Hybrid X team has created a comprehensive plan for Green Technology High School, a fully functional high school powered by a series of green energy systems entirely maintained and monitored by students. These systems would provide full access to a science and math curriculum geared toward the green jobs of the future.

"These students know what is going on, they see their friends in the mix, and then they see their own experience, traveling around the country, meeting top scientists," says founder Simon Hauger. "They want more kids to be affected by this.

Founded in 1998, the Hybrid X team has worked on creating hybrid car systems. Their hybrid racecar, built in 2005, won a national competition and went on to gain media attention not only for its hybrid engine but its speed and sleek design. The club has routinely beaten college-level teams in engineering competitions, most recently reaching the semi-final round of the Progressive Automotive X Prize. Green Technology High School will be the team's first foray into green building but according to Hauger, it won't be the last, especially if the team wins. Vote for them here.

"They tell us 'this is what school should be," says Hauger. "All the learning that needs to occur can be based in real stuff instead of just go to class, get lectured for an hour, go to the next class, get lectured for an hour, its just not working. And these kids know better than anyone."

Source: Simon Hauger, Hybrid X Team
Writer: John Steele