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Resources

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Green Chemistry Roundtable Series: Preventing Pollution by Design

Presented by: Sustainable Pittsburgh's Champions for Sustainability & Rachel Carson Homestead Association

Wednesday, January 13
7:30 am – 10:00 am
Alcoa Corporate Center, 201 Isabella St, North Side
Registration Fee: $30.00
More information and registration

How can green chemistry propel southwestern Pennsylvania's manufacturing business to become more sustainable economically? Champions for Sustainability, Sustainable Pittsburgh’s sustainable business network, in collaboration with the Rachel Carson Homestead Association (RCHA), is hosting a series of roundtables that will convene leaders in the growing field of Green Chemistry to highlight the opportunities and challenges facing this region and country.

This first session of this series, “Preventing Pollution by Design,” will feature John R. Ehrenfeld, author of Sustainability by Design. In addition, a panel of experts will include: Terry Collins, Ph.D., Thomas Lord Professor of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University; Robert Bear, Director, Environmental Affairs, Alcoa, Inc.; and Ned Eldridge, President, eLoop LLC.

This region is well positioned to help its manufacturers command the growing field of products based on green chemistry solutions – products that meet the quality and functional needs of other businesses or retail consumers, while using materials that eliminate or reduce toxicity. With its substantial manufacturing capacities and expertise in advanced chemistry and materials, product design and innovative talent, southwestern Pennsylvania can grow and sustain its manufacturing base by bringing all of these together strategically.

Three more sessions are scheduled as part of this series:
Session #2: POLICY ISSUES and reform of the TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL ACT – an Oxford Formal Debate (March 2010)
Session #3: GREEN PRODUCTS: SUCCESSES AND CHALLENGES (May 2010)
Session #4: RECLAIMED AND REPROCESSED PRODUCTS (July 2010)

Resources Continued

Green Chemistry Roundtable Series: Preventing Pollution by Design

Presented by: Sustainable Pittsburgh's Champions for Sustainability & Rachel Carson Homestead Association

Wednesday, January 13
7:30 am – 10:00 am
Alcoa Corporate Center, 201 Isabella St, North Side
Registration Fee: $30.00
More information and registration

How can green chemistry propel southwestern Pennsylvania's manufacturing business to become more sustainable economically? Champions for Sustainability, Sustainable Pittsburgh’s sustainable business network, in collaboration with the Rachel Carson Homestead Association (RCHA), is hosting a series of roundtables that will convene leaders in the growing field of Green Chemistry to highlight the opportunities and challenges facing this region and country. The first session of this roundtable series, “Preventing Pollution by Design,” will feature John R. Ehrenfeld, author of Sustainability by Design. In addition, a panel of experts will include: Terry Collins, Ph.D., Thomas Lord Professor of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University; Robert Bear, Director, Environmental Affairs, Alcoa, Inc.; and Ned Eldridge, President, eLoop LLC.

Green Drinks: Solar to Wind - Homeowners to Communities to Commercial Applications

Featuring host Hal Saville, Project Consultant, Vox Energy Solutions
Friday, January 15
5:00 pm - 9:00 pm
CCI Center, 64 S. 14th Street, South Side
Bus Stop: E Carson St at 12th
For Port Authority Bus Routes, go here: www.portauthority.org
More information: pittsburghgreendrinks@gmail.com

Hal Saville, a project consultant for Vox Energy Solutions, attended Penn State in Solar, Energy Conservation and Architectural Engineering Technology. In addition to training with Solar Energy International (SEI) last year, Hal lobbied local legislators to pass the State Renewable Energy incentives and authored Conservation Consultants’ Solar Installer Training Program grant proposal. The proposal yielded ~ $200,000 to launch this successful program which trains new green professionals. Hal is also active in the local green jobs movement, teaching a green jobs seminar and “Go Solar at Home” class for homeowners interested in utilizing solar energy at Butler County Community College.

Vox Energy Solutions, located in Pittsburgh’s North Hills, is a full-service alternative energy installer. In addition to providing energy audits, they design, install and maintain photovoltaic, solar thermal and wind turbine systems for residential, institutional and commercial clients. In the last two years, as a new subsidiary of Vox Communications, a 20-year-old telecom tower installation firm, they have installed over 40kW of solar electric throughout Western Pennsylvania as well as several solar thermal systems. Vox recently contracted with the City of Pittsburgh to provide solar thermal systems at five city fire stations and just completed their largest PV project, 10.6kW on the Regional Enterprise Building, considered the first major solar installation in Pittsburgh’s Downtown “Golden Triangle”, realizing its Solar America City status through a U.S. Dept. of Energy partnership.

DCNR Green Grant selection criteria webinar

Thursday, January 21
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Space is limited for this webinar so please register early.
Register
Once registered you will receive a confirmation email with the log-on information.
Contact: Sherri Clukey at sclukey@state.pa.us or 717-705-8532.

DCNR’s Bureau of Recreation and Conservation recently developed and published new Green Grant selection criteria and developed a webpage to serve as a clearinghouse for green recreation and conservation information. The Bureau is interested in sharing the new green selection criteria and webpage content with potential grant applicants who will be applying during the open application period extending from January 6 to April 21, 2010. This webinar training session on January 21 will be very useful for Community Conservation and Partnership Program applicants and others who are interested in greening their recreation and conservation sites. This training will specifically cover:

1. DCNR’s Green Grant Initiative
2. The new Greening website
3. The Green Scorecard Tool, and
4. Real world examples of practical and cost effective ways to green your recreation and conservation projects.

The webinar is open to the first 200 registrants. Depending on demand, other webinars may be offered.

Webinar to address ongoing implications of natural-gas leases

"Post Leasing -- Considerations of What Happens Next, Lessons Learned to Date"
Thursday, January 21
1 pm
More information

While many landowners across Pennsylvania have signed lease agreements with natural-gas exploration companies, new questions -- which may or may not be clear in the original leases -- continue to emerge. A discussion of these questions will be the focus of a free Web-based seminar titled, "Post Leasing -- Considerations of What Happens Next, Lessons Learned to Date." Sponsored by Penn State Cooperative Extension, the webinar will provide information about the scope of existing and additional lease agreements as well as address some of the trends landowners have been observing as the gas-extraction phase begins to ramp up in many parts of the state. Some of these trends include negotiations with landowners for siting the well pad, lease extensions, the addition of roads, pipelines, sound mitigation and the need for timbering. Online participants will have the opportunity to ask the speaker questions during the session.

Reed Smith Spring 2010 Speaker Series: Diversity and its Discontents: Lessons from Higher Education

Thursday, January 21
Noon to 1:30 pm
School of Social Work Conference Center, 2017 Cathedral of Learning, Oakland
Lunch is provided.
Registration is not required.
www.crsp.pitt.edu

The Center on Race and Social Problems, School of Social Work, University of Pittsburgh announces the Reed Smith Spring 2010 Speaker Series. The January 21st lecture, Diversity and its Discontents: Lessons from Higher Education, features Marta Tienda, Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, Princeton University. The mission of the center is to conduct applied social science research on race, color, and ethnicity and their influence on the quality of life for all Americans. The lecture series provides an opportunity for faculty, students, and community members to engage in race-related discussions of mutual interest. Additional dates and speakers are listed below:

Monday, February 15
Vincent Hutchings, Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan
Wedge Politics: The Structure and Function of Racial Group Cues in American Politics

Tuesday, March 16
Abby L. Ferber, Associate Professor of Women's and Ethnic Studies, University of Colorado
'There is more to me than white': Moving from Whiteness Studies to Privilege Studies

Wednesday, April 7
Jonathan M. Hurwitz, Professor of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh
Justice in America: The Separate Realities of Blacks and Whites

Worm Composting Workshop

Wednesday, January 13
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
CCI Center, 64 S. 14th Street, South Side
Cost: $45 per person, $55 for couples; $5 discount for members
Contact: Sarah Alessio at 412-488-7490 ext. 236
More information

Learn about the benefits of composting with worms. The Pennsylvania Resources Council is hosting a Worm Composting Workshop on Wednesday, January 13. Each participant or couple will be provided with a bin, instructions, and worms. You will go home with a complete, ready to use vermiculture system. It's easy, fun, odorless and produces a great soil additive! Class participants will learn how to house, feed, harvest and care for their own worms. Be prepared to roll-up your sleeves and make your own worm composting bin!

NEW DATE SCHEDULED: Pine Creek Watershed Conservation Plan Public Meeting

New date: Thursday, March 25
6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Rose Barn in North Park
Contact: Jill Vovaris, Project Manager, 412-788-0472

As reported in the October North Area Environmental Council (NAEC) Newsletter, NAEC and the Pine Creek Watershed Coalition (PCWC) are developing a Pine Creek Watershed Conservation Plan. The Pine Creek Watershed includes Bradford Woods, Etna, Franklin Park, Fox Chapel, Hampton, Indiana, Marshall, McCandless, O’Hara, Pine, Richland, Ross, Shaler, and Sharpsburg.

A Watershed Conservation Plan is a combination of watershed research and public opinion that works to restore, maintain, and enhance watershed resources. Local citizen participation in the planning effort is key to ensuring that the Watershed Conservation Plan responds to their community’s needs and concerns. Projects recommended in the plan will become eligible for future state and federal funding.

The first round of public meetings was held in June 2009 to provide input and identify issues and concerns related to the study. Using the information from these public meetings, public survey results, interviews with key watershed stakeholders, and the continued coordination with the plan’s study committee, draft management strategies and action plans are now being developed. The March 25th meeting is an additional opportunity for the public to provide input on the content of the management strategies and action plans and to prioritize them in a manner that will benefit not only the natural elements, but also the social fabric of the watershed. The meeting format will include an approximate 20-minute presentation of the watershed plan, management strategies, and action items. Following the presentation, several workshop areas will be set up, and the public will be invited to participate in a prioritization exercise and will discuss in small groups the strategies and action plans.

Resources

Cranberry is going green

Cranberry's steps toward environmental and economic sustainability are just beginning; involvement by homeowners, businesses and surrounding communities will be needed for it to succeed. When that happens, it will maintain Cranberry's vital real estate market and business development for years to come. It will allow the next generation to thrive so that our community can continue to prosper and end up better than we found it. And it will help blaze a trail for other suburban communities throughout the region to find their own sustainable futures.

Millions of dollars lost in taxes, investment because of 'growing crisis' of blight

Sustainable Pittsburgh's report calls for creation of a regional roundtable to help small cities and towns build capacity to deal with this cumbersome problem. . . Recycling abandoned properties, while not a traditional role of government, "is as fundamental a public service as police protection and street sweeping."

More

The Smart Growth Manual: a Review

Kaid Benfield of the NRDC reviews The Smart Growth Manual by Andres Duany, Jeff Speck and Mike Lydon. Benfield gives it high marks for style and substance, and for the way it incorporates environmental issues. As an environmentalist, Benfield expected to disagree with more of the book than he did.

Port Authority Adds 20 Hybrid Buses to Fleet

The hybrid buses deliver an array of environmental benefits. Compared to diesel buses, they produce fewer emissions of nitrogen oxides and fewer particulate, hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions due to their increased fuel economy. On average, hybrid buses also attain 25 percent greater fuel mileage, and a hybrid’s brakes and engine experience less wear-and-tear than their diesel-only counterparts.

Sustainable Community Essentials Resource Sheets available online

Toward cultivating greater capacity for sustainable practice around Southwestern Pennsylvania, the Sustainable Community Development Network of Sustainable Pittsburgh partnered with leading organizations to produce a new series of Sustainable Community Essentials Resource Sheets and a Rapid Assessment for communities. These resource sheets identify 14 essentials of a sustainable community - from Air Quality to Food Security to Governance - and provide an explanation of each topic and case studies – a perfect tool for community leaders to use as they work to improve their neighborhoods.

Overseeing Deep Shale Drilling in Pennsylvania

The Marcellus Shale has become a game changer in Pennsylvania gas production. Energy companies have been drilling into this deep rock formation for the past three years. Billions of cubic feet of natural gas have been recovered but critics say not without environmental problems. As more and more wells are sunk, many citizens and environmentalists believe the state has to change the way it oversees drilling. The Allegheny Front's Ann Murray has this story.

New Year’s Resolution: Save money by making your home more energy efficient

Conservation Consultants’ Get Energy Smarter program provides information on how to make one's home more energy efficient and do it affordably with tax credits, rebates and low interest loans.

Individuals can get started by scheduling an energy audit of their home. An energy audit is an assessment of your comfort and how efficiently, or inefficiently, your house uses electricity, gas, or oil. The audit will also assess the safety of your furnace and water heater, verifying proper ventilation, detecting gas leaks, and unsafe levels of carbon monoxide. Making a home more energy efficient saves money on utility bills, improves comfort, and reduces your carbon footprint.

Black and Gold City Goes Green: Have 10 months of community action made a difference?

In order to encourage organizations throughout Pittsburgh to get involved, The Black and Gold City Goes Green organizers created a competition to see how many people each organization could recruit to make these "green" changes in their daily lives. The results were announced this morning: Winners include Sustainable Pittsburgh, East Liberty Development Inc., the United Jewish Federation and Chatham University.

Coming home to HEARTH - Affordable housing gives families a new start

"Our service area is outside Pittsburgh," said Arlene Grubbs, a member of the board that oversees Benet Woods Housing. "And there is a clear need for affordable housing in suburban areas." In Allegheny County, "affordable" translates into monthly rent of about $667, including utilities. That amount is based on tenants spending no more than 30 percent of their income on housing. At least 5,000 such units are needed in the suburbs north of Pittsburgh, according to Judith Eakin, executive director of Hearth and its Benet Woods Housing unit. "Our 11 units are a small drop in the bucket toward meeting that need," Ms. Eakin said . . .Ross commissioners reluctantly approved the project after Trek Development and Benet Woods Housing filed a discrimination suit.

Outlook 2010: Multi-Year Legislation for Transportation May Wait Until 2011

But it probably will be another year before Congress takes up new multi-year authorization bills for the sector, sources said in recent interviews. . .But more permanent programs and revenue overhauls that would be instituted by much anticipated multi-year transportation bills have been hampered by a prolonged congressional battle over health care and climate-change legislation, the coming midterm elections, and reluctance by some lawmakers and the White House to broach the subject of user fees while unemployment remains high. . .In the meantime, new programs created by ARRA may be laying groundwork for lengthier federal investments in state-administered transportation projects. State transportation officials want the Build America Bonds program created by ARRA to be extended beyond its current expiration date of Dec. 31, said Joung Lee, senior analyst for finance and business development at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. . .But the lingering, crucial problem for transportation officials — how to generate revenue for federal and state transportation trust funds — is not likely to be solved soon, according to sources.

What We Learned From The Stimulus
And how to use what we learned to speed job creation in the 2010 jobs bill

The latest data on stimulus spending show that funds spent on public transportation were a more effective job creator than stimulus funds spent on highways. In the 10 months since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was signed, investing in public transportation produced twice as many jobs per dollar as investing in roads: . . .The evidence from ARRA shows that investments in public transportation are most effective at producing jobs, where “effective” means both “creates jobs faster” and “creates more jobs.” Allocating federal funds in response to this evidence would speed job creation. If the Congress takes up the House jobs bill, it should balance spending between public transportation and the Surface Transportation program.

The State Of Transportation

What were the three most important transportation developments of 2009? And what should be the top three transportation policy priorities of 2010, either for government at any level or for the private sector?

the Green Top 10 for 2010

2010 is shaping up to be a momentous year on several counts, especially for issues having to do with sustainability. Here are the top 10 things that appear likely to develop, from an Original Green perspective. . .2010 looks like it might be the year that’s the tipping point with cities choosing this very smart way to reverse the tide of sprawl and make green cities possible. . . Three world-changing trends that need no introduction are converging right now, and 2010 looks like the year when most people realize we've got to think differently about “business as usual.” They are the Meltdown, Peak Oil, and Climate Change. . .How might we live in this next Golden Age?

China introduces law to boost renewable energy

A new Chinese law requires power grid operators to buy all the electricity produced by renewable energy generators, in a move that will increase the proportion of energy that comes from renewable sources in coal-dependent China. . .China's target is for renewable energy sources to make up 15 percent of its power generation by 2020, up from about 9 percent currently. It also targets a reduction in carbon intensity, or the amount of carbon produced per unit of GDP, of between 40 and 45 percent by 2020 compared with 2005.

US Patent and Trademark Office Launches Program to Speed Patent Applications in Green Technologies

While the inability to come to a binding agreement in Copenhagen was surely a disappointment for many, a global commitment to a transition to a low-carbon economy does by now seem inevitable. Inevitable as well will be international competition to bring to market the technologies that, primarily through private investment, will drive the new economy.

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Sustainable Pittsburgh affects decision-making in the Pittsburgh Region to integrate economic prosperity, social equity and environmental quality bringing sustainable solutions to communities and businesses.

Sustainable Pittsburgh benefits from support ($1000 and up) in 2010 from:

Atkins Family Foundation
BNY Mellon
Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation
Elsie H. Hillman Foundation
Richard King Mellon Foundation
The Heinz Endowments


Special thanks to the SP Members

Sustainable Pittsburgh
425 Sixth Avenue, Suite 1335
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
(412) 258-6642
fax (412) 258-6645
E-mail SP