| PHILLY GETS $25 MILLION FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY | | | VOLUME IV,
ISSUE VIII |  | | Philadelphia was selected to receive $25 million as part of the Department of Energy's Retrofit Ramp-Up initiative. | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Last month, the City of Philadelphia, along with a coalition of public, private, and non-profit partners, was awarded a $25 million federal energy grant from the US Department of Energy. The grant will pay for retrofitting thousands of commercial and residential buildings throughout the greater Philadelphia region. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who visited Philadelphia after the grant announcement was made, believes that this initiative will help overcome the barriers to making energy efficiency easy and accessible to all, and will make our communities more energy efficient, save families money, create jobs and strengthen our economy.
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| COUNCIL VOTES UNANIMOUSLY FOR COOL ROOFS | |
| City Council unanimously passed Councilman Kenney's Cool Roof bill, which requires all new construction in the City to use highly reflective roofing materials that meet or exceed Energy Star cool roof standards. Cool roofs are good for the environment and easy on residents' wallets. While installation costs for cool roofs are similar to those of traditional roofs, but create significant energy and maintenance savings. Their reflectivity typically keep roofs 50 to 80 degrees cooler than black roofs on hot summer days. In turn, lower roof temperatures help residents save as much as 20 to 30 percent off their monthly energy bills, and extending the life of the roof.
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| WE'RE #8 ON THE ASTHMA CAPITALS LIST | |
| There are some top ten lists you just don't want to be on, the Top Asthma Capitals list is one of them. The Asthma Capitals is an annual research project to call attention to the asthma epidemic and to advocate for changes in each city to improve the quality of life for people with asthma. Scoring worse than average in over half of the indicators, Philadelphia came in as the eighth most challenging places to live with Asthma. Next Great City advocates the City to install modern pollution-control devices on older city diesel trucks to reduce asthma caused by soot. The City is making progress (a few years ago we were ranked as the third worst place in the country for asthma sufferers to live), but there is still a long way to go in improving air quality for Philadelphia residents.
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| PLANT!PHILADEPHIA | |
| So you support the City's Greenworks goals, and know that initiative's success requires citizen involvement, but you don't know what you can do to help. The Center City District has created Plant!Philadelphia to make it easier for you to support the Greenworks goal of planting 300,000 new trees by 2015. Plant!Philadelphia gives individuals and businesses the opportunity to participate directly in the effort to add healthy street trees within the boundaries of the Center City District or replace damaged ones and sustain a routine maintenance schedule. Donations to Plant!Philadelphia are tax-deductible and can be made online or by mail.
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| EPA GRANTS FOR URBAN WATERSHED PROTECTION | |
| Many urban waters have a wide range of environmental challenges including polluted runoff, sewer overflows, and other contamination. Recognizing the distinct challenges cities face around water issues, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is developing an Urban Waters Initiative with the goal of helping communities especially disadvantaged communities access, restore and benefit from their waters and the surrounding land. As part of this initiative, the EPA has announced a $600,000 urban watershed grant to promote community stewardship by increasing the capacity of local watershed and community groups. The EPA will be accepting grant proposals until May 19, 2010.
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