Peco Energy bills will be about 10 percent higher for the average homeowner in 2011, far less than the 15 to 20 percent hike predicted by the utility company.

Congratulations. You've blown some insulation into the attic, screwed in some compact fluorescent lightbulbs. Perhaps you replaced those old, drafty windows.

Energy-saving moves, all of them.

But that's nothing compared to what is coming at the Navy Yard.

State funding has been held up for a proposed commuter rail line between Glassboro and Camden, victim of a troubled Transportation Trust Fund and a tough economy.

Already eight months behind schedule, SEPTA's new Silverliner V railcars will be delayed further by production and labor difficulties at the manufacturer's South Philadelphia plant, according to an internal SEPTA report.

A research consortium led by Pennsylvania State University won up to $129 million in federal funding to develop an "energy innovation hub" at the Philadelphia Navy Yard - a project expected to create and retain 1,200 jobs in the area immediately and as many as 100,000 over the next five to 10 years, officials said Tuesday.

SEPTA's new "smart card" fare system could mean that rail passengers would get a free ride into Philadelphia and pay a double fare on the way home.

Brendan Lynch used to use his living room floor to sort all those oddball plastics that Philadelphia wouldn't recycle. Then he would give them to a neighbor, who would haul them to a special recycling facility in Pottstown.

We all have one — that shelf or cabinet with leftover paints, old bug killers, and unwanted cleaners. You don't want that toxic stuff near your kids or pets so you keep it out of reach.

Lawyers, unions, and elected officials are well represented on the 16-member board of the Delaware River Port Authority.