Who knew? Philadelphia seems to be the East Coast hub for eco-friendly homes. According to an article by Patrick Pullen in the March/April edition of Arrive magazine, Philadelphia's Greenworks program is an ambitious plan to transform the city into the greenest city in the US by 2015.
Goals of the program include:
- Lowering city government energy consumption by 30%
- Lowering city government energy consumption by 30%
- Reducing citywide building energy consumption by 10%
- Retrofitting 15% of homes with insulation, air sealing and cool roofs.
- Purchasing and generating 20% of the electricity used in Philadelphia from alternate sources.
Several companies are helping. Postgreen purchases 18' x 60' infill lots in the city and creates the 100K house, a 1000 square foot, 2 story, 2 bed/1 bath home built on a budget under $100,000. Greenable is a purveyor of eco-friendly building materials. With a design studio in Old City since 2006, Greenable recently expanded into a 3,500 square foot space in Northern Liberties stocking eco-firendly cleaning products, composters, worm bins, paints, countertops, backsplashes, flooring, denim insulation, bamboo plywood, windows, lighting and more. BluPath Design is an architectural firm that has been designing green buildings since 2003 and works in partnership with GreenSteps eco-consultancy.
These are just a few of the companies proving going green is good business.
14 comments:
I think Philadelphia Greenworks Program is creating an influential impact to us and those in other cities to adjust their own living environment to a green one. Although cars and clothing are a great place to start to promote a "go green" lifestyle, the first place to come to my mind would be homes and office spaces. Making our own living environments eco-friendly with the correct resources and materials, I think, is an influential and smart move in the right direction for the going green business.
I completely agree with article. I also agree with Tatiana when she mentions that the first place to start becoming eco-friendly is homes. I can see how altering one's environment to better the world's environment as a whole is bold and though a small step, can be effective. I do want to mention the reason why I know many people do not buy into really going green at home is the cost of the products. I have friends that have tried products like, greenworks cleaning spray, and eco-friendly cleaning cloths for their kitchens and bathrooms. They don't go back to them because of the cost. Even though it only may be a few dollars extra, those dollars add up especially on a college budget. I think if the eco-friendly products had lower prices they can be advertised as good for your environment and your pocket.
This is really cool, I think. The fact that they cost the same or less than a traditional home is a step in the right direction - only die-hard environmentalists are going to properly "green" their home if it's the more expensive route.
If companies can work on making green items more afforable, then more people will start buying them.
I knew it! i knew there had to be a reason why everywhere you turn in Philly there is some "go green" effort going on. The concentration of eco-friendly supporters in this city is unbelievable. As we all know, our carbon footprint is deepened with every move we make and i'm proud to say i live in a city that is so focused on limiting that impression as much as possible. Philly is doing a great job and soon enough every other major city will catch on.
I'm happy to see that the Going Green movement is going beyond clothes and cars and expending to housing, which accounts for most of our carbon footprint. As being green becomes the "cool" thing to do, many people raise their environmental awareness more or less to fit into this healthy and responsible lifestyle. Sustainable and recycled materials, energy saving and natural energy collecting, lessening pollution, etc, all these elements are all very important in a green house where the in-door materials can be integrated into the its surrounding environment as a whole. If the cost of buying a green house can be lessen as our technology improved, I believe many people will buy them. Not only resident houses, but also hotels, with their constant operations, need more green efforts to make where we live a better place.
Lately I have been seeing in construction sites around the city how the new buildings are in some way green, and honestly I can't wait until these are finished to see them. I agree that eco-friendlyness has to go beyond clothes and cars. The greatest thing I think you mention in this post is the fact that companies such as Postgreen and Greenable are able to build eco-friendly homes under a reasonable budget. A lot of people think that making their homes more green is an expensive effort, but I guess it's totally do-able!
I think it is extremely impressive that Mayor Nutter has started the Greenworks Program in Philadelphia. This seems to be a huge step in the world of "going green." This program will most likely influence other cities to jump on the bandwagon and become more eco-friendly. I'm excited to see the progress of this project and how people respond to it!
I have always considered Philadelphia to be a fairly green city with its public transportation system and plethora of farmer's markets. However I was not aware of the number of initiatives promoting eco-friendly home building in the area. The more practical and affordable owning a environmentally sound home becomes, the more residents are sure to choose them. Programs that encourage this evolution deserve to be commended as it is a very worthwhile cause.
This is great, I agree that the green movement has to go beyond cars and apparel. I think a great step is to start to focus on building sustainable environments whether they be homes or businesses. By starting from the ground up, it will be easier to ensure that most aspects of the interior and exterior of these buildings will be able to help fight the green movement.
I think this is a great thing for Philadelphia. Philly has definitely been an up and coming city in recent years and this only helps. It will be much nicer living in an environment that is trying to make a difference in the world. Philly is really going the extra mile to try to make the world a better and cleaner place. Hopefully all of these plans are successful and other cities follow in Philadelphia's footsteps.
I agree with everyone else that having Philadelphia becoming a more eco-friendly city is a great idea. However, my roommate was just telling me that she learned about the planning fallacy in her social psychology class last year, where people underestimate how long it takes to complete a task. Keeping this idea in mind, I feel like the estimation of 5 years to lower all of the amounts of energy, will in reality take much longer. With that being said, the city of Philadelphia should focus on planning for the completion to be done faster!
I am all for this program because going green is something I am extremely passionate about. I also agree with others saying that this is a very influential creation that could be beneficial and if it leaves a great impact many other cities might adapt this new concept. I also agree with Tatiana when she says that hitting the homes and office spaces first is a good idea. It will make more of an impact in my opinion if it does.
The Philadelphia Greenworks program is an amazing opportunity for this city. Besides being an eco-friendly program it will bring a lot of good publicity to a city. Philadelphia promoting eco-friendly affordable on such a large scales is brilliant.
I think the Philadelphia Greenworks program is a great way to make Philadelphia a city that other cities strive to be. I think this could have an even greater impact on the environment that just cleaning up philadelphia but it will probably spur other cities like Washington, DC and New York to do the same thing and then gradually more cities after that. Once one city proves that it is possible to make a change and make the environment a priority other cities will do the same.
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