6 Ways to Save Energy During Spring

The weather is getting warmer; it's time to pull out the grill, call the pool cleaner back, and get those gardening tools out of the basement. It's spring! But spring also means it's time to look at how you can save the most energy and the most money. 

Many Ways to Save

A lot of people can tolerate cold weather better than hot weather, which means, as the weather gets warmer and warmer, it will become increasingly difficult to fight the impulse to turn on the air conditioning and leave it on for hours. Fortunately, there are several things you can do to help keep your home cool without running up your energy bill.

Take it easy on the thermostat:

Set the temperature as high as you can while still being comfortable. The smaller the difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures, the lower your bill will be. Keep the house warmer than usual when you are away, cool when you get home. Set "Away" and "Home" temperatures easily with a programmable thermostat.
 

Image: Wikipedia

Keep in mind: Your house will not cool any faster if you set the thermostat to a colder temperature than usual. In fact, this will likely result in unnecessary expense and excessive strain on the cooling system.

Make the most out of your windows:

Prevent heat from getting in through the windows by installing window coverings such as blinds (interior and/or exterior), awnings, high-reflective films, draperies, shades, insulated panels, and shutters. If you live in an area where it cools off at night, turn of your air conditioning and open your windows while you sleep. When you wake up, shut the windows and blinds to keep the cool air in, unless there's still a cool breeze. You can still get some good cool air into the house in the early morning before the sun starts hitting your house/yard.

Turn on those ceiling fans:

By using your ceiling fans in combination with air conditioning, you can actually set the thermostat four degrees higher but remember that fans cool people, not rooms. If you leave a room, turn off the fan. Turn on your bathroom fan when taking a shower or bath to remove the humidity and heat.

 

Drop the water temperature:

Your water heater uses 18 percent of your home's energy-use. Turn the temperature down to 120 degrees F.

Minimize appliance-use and artificial lighting:

Using the oven on hot days will make the house warmer and subsequently more difficult to cool. Stick to the stove, microwave, or grill outside. Minimize using a computer or TV, running the dishwasher, or using hot devices like hair dryers. Install efficient lighting that doesn't release much heat.

Seal leaks to keep the hot air out:

Seal cracks to keep warm out from leaking into the house. Add weatherstripping or caulk to seal leaky windows and doors.

 

Better for the Environment, Better for You

Ultimately, anything we can do to save energy and conserve natural resources will benefit all of us, both directly in terms of personal cost-savings and indirectly in preserving our world for the future. At Vosh, we are committed to doing our part for the greater good, which is why our car washers use less than three gallons of water for each wash. Additionally, we offer waterless car washes.


To learn more about us or to download the Vosh on-demand car was app, visit our website at [http://vosh.me/]http://vosh.me/.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?6-Ways-to-Save-Energy-During-Spring&id=9676317] 6 Ways to Save Energy During Spring.

PVC Pipeline for Life Brings Clean Water to Rural Areas

PVC Pipe (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Thanks to partnerships between Save the Children, Water Engineers for the Americas, the Vinyl Institute, and the American Chemistry Council’s Chlorine Chemistry Division, more than 6,000 people across 3 remote villages in Honduras now have access to clean running water for the first time in their lives. Called “PVC Pipeline for Life,” this project has spanned a decade and involved the installation of 3,200 linear meters of PVC pipe (via a donation from the Vinyl Institute), bringing a lifesaving water purification and distribution system to a community in need.

None of this would be possible, however, without PVC pipe. “This is a great example of what PVC pipe can do,” said Susan Wade of the Vinyl Institute. “It is a major material used in clean water delivery, and the fact that it’s durable but also easy to install…this was the perfect material for this situation.”

(Photo: Wikipedia)

Wade continues, “I remember asking the water engineers, of all the available piping materials, why do you choose PVC? And they said, in Honduras, the soil is so acidic that you need something that can withstand that once it’s buried into the ground. This is a perfect application for PVC.”

Because PVC pipe is durable enough to withstand the Honduran soil, it is also relatively resistant to leaks and pipe corrosion. Corrosion can decrease flow in a pipe’s system imposing extra demands to pump water. Plus, plastic pipe manufacturing is resource efficient, typically consuming less energy than alternative materials. So the choice of PVC for this special pipeline project is expected to allow thousands of people gain access to clean water… in an energy-efficient way! Kudos to all those involved for bringing a lifesaving necessity to those in need through the PVC Pipeline for Life!

Source: GreenBuildingsolutions.org


Also checkout the Home Science, LLC Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/energysmarts/ or our main website at www.HomeScience.us

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Missing Ingredient in Energy-efficient Buildings: People

Building 1. Credit: Washington State University

More than one-third of new commercial building space includes energy-saving features, but without training or an operator’s manual many occupants are in the dark about how to use them.

Julia Day recently published a paper in Building and Environment that for the first time shows that occupants who had effective training in using the features of their high-performance buildings were more satisfied with their work environments. Day did the work as a doctoral student at Washington State University; she is now an assistant professor at Kansas State University.

Closed blinds open research path

She was a WSU graduate student in interior design when she walked into an office supposedly designed for energy efficiency and noticed that the blinds were all closed and numerous lights were turned on. The building had been designed to use daylighting strategies to save energy from electric lighting.

After inquiring, Day learned that cabinetry and systems furniture throughout the building blocked nearly half of the occupants from access to the blind controls. Only a few determined folks would climb on or under their desks to operate the blinds.

“People couldn’t turn off their lights, and that was the whole point of implementing daylighting in the first place,” she said. “The whole experience started me on my path.”

Ventilation indicators mistaken for fire-alarm lights

Working with David Gunderson, professor in the WSU School of Design and Construction, Day looked at more than 50 high-performance buildings across the U.S. She gathered data, including their architectural and engineering plans, and did interviews and surveys of building occupants.

She examined how people were being trained in the buildings and whether their training was effective. Sometimes, she learned, the features were simply mentioned in a meeting or a quick email was sent to everyone, and people did not truly understand how their actions could affect the building’s overall energy use.

One LEED gold building had lights throughout to indicate the best times of day to open and close windows to take advantage of natural ventilation. A green light indicated it was time to open windows.

“I asked 15 people if they knew what the light meant, and they all thought it was part of the fire alarm system,’’ she said. “There’s a gap, and people do not really understand these buildings.’’

Efficient commercial space expanding

According to CBRE Research, the amount of commercial space that is certified as high-performance in energy efficiency through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star or U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED has grown from 5.6 percent of commercial space in 2005 to 39.3 percent at the end of 2013.

Yet in many cases, the corporate culture of energy use in buildings hasn’t caught up. While at home our mothers nagged us to turn off the lights when we left a room or to shut the door because “you don’t live in a barn,” office culture has often ignored and even discouraged common-sense energy saving.

Educating for an energy-focused culture

Day found that making the best use of a highly efficient building means carefully creating a culture focused on conservation. In buildings with an energy-focused culture, workers were engaged, participated and were satisfied with their building environment.

“If they received good training, they were more satisfied and happier with their work environment,’’ she said.

She is working to develop an energy lab and would like to develop occupant training programs to take advantage of high-performance buildings.

“With stricter energy codes, the expectations are that buildings will be more energy efficient and sustainable,’’ she said. “But we have to get out of the mindset where we are not actively engaged in our environments. That shift takes a lot of education, and there is a huge gap right now.”


Source: Washington State University. Original article by Tina Hilding.

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Rain Barrels: Small Investment, Big Benefits

Rain barrel on Philadelphia sidewalk

Winter seems to be lingering quite a bit this year, yet soon enough we'll be seeing a change to spring showers and sprouting gardens. With that in mind, it's a great time to be thinking about rain barrels - their importance in helping manage stormwater and how they can help you save on your water bill.

First, a bit on stormwater.

As communities expand with development, they become increasingly built up with impermeable surfaces such as big parking lots at big box stores. The result is that rain has few places to go; it hits the hard surfaces and just runs right off into our streams. In urban areas, stormwater management has become a critical issue because of the adverse impact from combined sewer overflows on a watershed and a city's clean drinking water. A rain barrel helps limit this because it holds that first bit of rain coming off the roof or your driveway and prevents it from running into sewers and streams and causing overflow pollution and erosion from high flows of water.

In addition to helping the environment, rain barrels enable you to harvest rainwater for use with watering plants, lawns, mopping floors, or washing cars. You don't want to use rainwater from runoff to drink or to water edibles in the garden - it may contain unknown contaminants. But there are a plethora of other uses. Likewise, as you conserve water, you'll also benefit from saving on your water bill. And in Philadelphia, the water department has gone as far as to provide free rain barrels and workshops to city-dwellers.

See the short video below from the EPA to learn more about the great dollar and environmental benefits of rain barrels - a simple and effective investment to conserve water, save money, and help the environment.

For more information about rain barrels, go to http://www.epa.gov/reg3esd1/garden/rainbarrel.html. And check out Home Science on Facebook for more articles about home energy and environment: www.facebook.com/energysmarts.

 

 

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Getting Real with Climate Change

Cover page cuverture Turning the Tide On Climate Change (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There's a new online tool called Reality Drop from The Climate Reality Project, along with Arnold Worldwide, built to spread the truth and destroy denial around climate change. This is the REAL information from scientists' decades of research, not government or corporations. Give it a try.

Man-made climate change is here: A reality we can no longer ignore. We see the impacts in our everyday lives, from extreme superstorms, to heat waves, to massive wildfires and droughts.

But Dirty Energy companies and their allies have spread lies and confusion about climate science. Their "think tanks" produce false theories. Their "experts" spout false claims. They flood online comment streams with false information.

The result? People still aren't sure whether we should do anything about climate change - or if it's even happening. The media doesn’t report the facts straight about climate change - or worse yet, they don’t cover it at all.

Reality Drop's mission is to reveal the denial and deception around climate change, spread the truth, and clear the way toward real solutions.

We're long overdue for a national conversation about the carbon pollution that’s warming our planet. We can make this conversation happen… and we can relentlessly call on our leaders to move us toward a clean energy future.

We have something on our side that no amount of money can buy: Reality.


Learn more about how to participate in this earth-saving effort at www.realitydrop.org.

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Reclaim your Mud Room

From Trish Holder's Greenspiration Home blog, writer Kim Whitley-Gaynor tells of her and her husband's bold green-building mud room project which incorporates a whole bunch of great reclaimed vintage materials:


We live in the land of sugar sand. Sand so fine that it’s almost impossible to keep from tracking it indoors.

Reclamation yard: bricks, stone, chimney pots, fountains, and more... (Image: Wikipedia)

After we bought our house in Alto, Texas, we found that we were having to vacuum the kitchen — (which was the room we entered from the back door) – every few days. That got really old.  Really, really fast.

I never thought I’d need or want a mudroom. I thought mudrooms were needed just for snowy, muddy areas. But it occurred to me that this might just be the solution for our almost daily cleaning predicament.

So, my husband and I started discussing adding on a small mudroom to the back of our house. Last summer when it was time to start our window, insulation and siding replacement project, we knew that the time was then or never to build on a small mudroom.

Reclaimed Materials for Building:

We knew we wanted the room to be large enough to be functional and roomy enough, but small enough to keep costs low. We knew we had plenty of reclaimed lumber from our very first old home salvage project to cover most of the material costs, but we knew we would still had to factor in other expenses like labor, electrical supplies, lighting, insulation, roofing, and yes, more lumber.

After we considered everything, we realized that the pros far outweighed the large con of having to clean the floors every other day, so build it we did.

We finished the addition months ago, but have taken our time furnishing and finishing it. (When you’re salvaging old houses 5-6 days a week, there’s not a lot of time or energy left over. So frustrating when you’re wanting to get some home improvement projects done!) Plus, I wanted to find the perfect antique bench, and while I wanted it to appear instantly - (Yeah, I am impatient sometimes) - it took months to find.  READ MORE


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One Man's Trash...

Image via Wikipedia.

Speaking of salvaged, reclaimed, and upcycled materials. Check out this cool and informative graphic via the Open Architecture Network on the various possibilities of re-purposing building materials for home building - green-building to be precise.

In a statement quoted from them on Wikipedia, the organization describes their purpose as follows:

"The Goal of Discarded Dreams, Need not be Nightmares is to repurpose 1,000,000 discarded mattresses by creating a consumer product. We have outlined a strategy to implement/produce the design. We see this as an amazing opportunity to create a product that not only appeals to consumers, and alleviates landfills of unwanted mattresses, and creates a product that begins to provide solutions to the key societal issues of homeless and unemployment."

Visit this link for a higher resolution view of the diagram. There are loads of ideas to consider. Time for me to get working on that roof right now. Happy up-cycling y'all.

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Mapping for Cleaner Water

A Bethlehem, PA company shows how to set a course for less polluted waters through innovative technology.
  

It takes a lot of work for cities to provide clean water for their residents. But it's one of the most important challenges we face today. Our choices on maintaining a clean water system and protecting the watershed have a deep impact on the health and productivity of our nation. The mitigation of storm-water runoff is key to this, and the EPA's MS4 initiative, short for Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System, charts the way for municipalities to implement solutions.

To help with the effort, a new Pennsylvania company called Map Decisions, which has been accepted into the state's acclaimed Ben Franklin TechVentures Incubator program, has developed an innovative GPS software program for monitoring municipal water systems and assisting with MS4's implementation. Home Science recently spoke with Map Decision's CEO, Christian Birch, a Philadelphia native, for details:

What is Map Decisions, how long have you been together, and what is it that you seek to do or do now?

Map Decisions is a company that I recently formed in the beginning of 2012. I've worked for the last 13 years as an engineering consultant primarily supporting local governments, and I saw a great need in assisting local governments in complying with regulatory requirements - in particular one program from the EPA know as the municipal separate storm sewer program (MS4). It requires municipalities to obtain a permit to operate their storm sewer systems, and there are a lot of regulations that are creating both technical and financial burdens for local governments. We are helping local governments implement the permit. Our mission is to help governments improve their efficiency through innovative solutions. Map Decisions seems to redefine the term "moving at the speed of government." For generations that meant moving at a snail's pace. There's a lot of room for improvement. We need to inject innovation and technology and bring efficiency within our government.

Let's look at this subject a slightly different way, and let's take into consideration the EPA's MS4 mandate. The city of Philadelphia recently implemented a 25 year plan for green infrastructure. And the way we're looking at it is that we don't really have the money, the tax money to pay for the infrastructure renovations that are typically needed in big cities. Revenues have shrunk. So what we're doing through some of these mandates is possibly helping us save money. Do you see the positive aspects of green infrastructure and the EPA's MS4 program? Do you see how enacting some of these measures could really benefit cities and actually save tax money - not just from a burden point of view, but from an environmental and tax saving perspective? Do you see value in that?

Yes. There's long term value there. The goals and objectives of the EPA's program are to protect water quality. All the new regulations and the new methods for protecting water quality at the end of the day will make our communities stronger, they will save tax payers money, but there is an upfront cost.

In the last decade there's been a lot of improvement in terms of best management practices. City, state, county and federal governments are all pushing to have more sustainable design practices and preserving water quality. The engineering communities are required to implement best management practices wherever possible.

And these best management practices are part of the MS4. You have the construction phase of storm-water management, and the post construction phase. Construction phase examples are sediment basins that allow sediment in runoff to settle out so that it doesn't go into streams. Another example would be a silt fence - the 18" high fabric fences around construction sites. These are the best management practices for construction phase. Post-construction examples are rain gardens or vegetative bioswales, or porous pavement.

Those would be the so called "low impact tools" that cities and municipalities are beginning to utilize? Low impact, perhaps, because they don't require the city to dig and build larger sewer systems? It takes some of the burden off the sewer system in general by implementing these types of green tools. Is that right?

Silt fence. (Photo: Wikipedia)

Yes, and encouraging infiltration wherever possible. We need to make sure that we're not exchanging water between watersheds and we need to recharge aquifers. In cities like Philadelphia, it's very costly to expand sewer systems. These low impact solutions do two things: it prevents [cities] from having to do costly upgrades to the storm-sewer network, but it also allows them to improve water quality.

Let's focus a bit more on Map Decisions. What tools do you have to offer related to this?
 
We're developing one now called MS4 Solutions. It's an information management system. There are two basic components to it. It's a cloud based information system that allows the user to log on and have control of the information management system. The very first thing we do is allow our clients to develop a storm-water management system utilizing our software.

The second side to our system is mobile software. There are two mobile utilities that are tied to our information management system. The first is a mobile inspection utility, and the second is a mobile mapping utility. Both of our mobile utilities use location intelligence to help improve efficiency of data collection and aggregation. Some of the data the EPA is asking for can be difficult to ascertain, such as weather data - when was the last rainfall event and what was the volume of rain in the field where you're inspecting. That's nearly impossible to do when you're sitting out there with [just] a clipboard. The inspectors using our software don't have to worry about that. Once they start an inspection the on-board GPS triggers the intelligence built into our system. Things like the weather data, what watershed they're in, what are the receding waters - all of these things are automatically aggregated for the user utilizing the data models behind our software.

In the near future we will be adding additional modules to our platform that will allow customers to utilize mobile inspection and mapping features for other applications, such as roadways, water and wastewater, and building inspections.

This is primarily for monitoring the existing system or for planning and decision making?

Essentially for monitoring. The EPA wants to make sure we're not contaminating our nation's water. They're trying to encourage monitoring to prevent contamination of our waterways.

Interesting stuff, thank you for your time and good luck with your efforts.

Thank you.


Editorial note: The MS4 mandate covers a wide range of public entities to comply with the EPA's requirements, including local governments, municipal authorities, departments of transportation, hospitals and universities.This information was advised by Mr. Birch in a separate interview.


For more information on Map Decisions, LLC, visit www.mapdecisions.com or email them at info@mapdecisions.com or contact by phone at 877-277-5789.

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Turning the Tide on Stormwater Overflow

ECA Program Manager Zach Popkin gives the scoop on Philly's new Rain Check residential stormwater initiative.

Most people don’t often think about sewers, rainwater, and where water goes after a flush of the loo, but the folks at the water department sure do. It’s a big problem for cities because water is a limited resource and when sewers become overburdened, it can make for a troublesome mix with drinking water, which ultimately takes energy and money to clean.

To mitigate stormwater overflow issues, cities have increasingly relied on public green infrastructure tools such as bump-outs, planters, rain gardens, green roofs, bioswales and tree trenches (such as the one pictured here in Philadelphia's Columbus Square, which can hold up to 7100 gallons of rainwater per incident).

Philadelphia, in particular, has now begun taking this approach to people's homes with a new innovative residential program called Rain Check, which involves an initiative from the Philadelphia Water Department, training and implementation from the Energy Coordinating Agency, and engagement with the city's homeowners and residents.

Thus, Home Science caught up with the ECA's Program Manager for Rain Check, Zachary Popkin, to get the word on how it's all going to work:


What's the main purpose of the Rain Check program?

Here in the city of Philadelphia, because the city is so old, we have somewhat of an antiquated sewer system. Two-thirds of the city has what we call a combined sewer system. And what that means is that the sewer pipes in our streets have a combination of stormwater from rain events combined with our waste water from our homes. And what happens is that when it rains and they reach their capacity, we have these overflows. These stormwater overflows are flowing into our waterways, and it creates pollution, it creates erosion and flooding, and basically degrades the quality of our water in terms of the cleanliness of the water as well as habitats for ecosystems, and making our waterfronts liveable and enjoyable. Through this program we hope to address the issues of both stormwater quantity and quality management and we hope to make a happier city and more friendly waterfronts.

More specifically, since this effects all Philadelphians, what sort of role can homeowners and tenants play to help? How does Rain Check allow them to participate?

The goal of Rain Check is to treat the first inch of rain from storm events on the resident's site. So we have five green tools from Rain Check. We have a downspout planter box, we have a rain garden, we have the depaving of impervious surface - so if you have asphalt or concrete we can remove that to encourage the water to naturally infiltrate back into the ground - and we have porous paving options, which is basically still hard surfaces but allows the water to penetrate into the ground. And lastly we have just your average yard tree, which helps capture stormwater but also the root systems help to filter the water.

Homeowners who are participating in the program can receive one of the tools I mentioned, plus a yard tree. So say they can get a planter and a yard tree, or they can get a rain garden and a yard tree. The way the funding works is that the homeowner will be responsible for just a small copay, and the water department will provide funding for the remaining 80-90 percent. So it's a drastically reduced cost that the homeowner will pay to get their green tool.

Since this blog is also concerned with green jobs and building a sustainable workforce, in every sense, describe the type of jobs you'll be creating and the backgrounds of people being trained for this new career field of green infrastructure.

Green tool training at the ECA

Sure. We're managing our stormwater management process similar to the same way we do our energy audit process, where we have the energy audit up front, then we have the weatherization work. At the ECA in the EnergyWorks program we do a quality assurance inspection at the end of that process. You have a three process program with the inspection, the remodeling work, and the quality assurance assessment.

With the Rain Check program we've modeled that process similarly. We've trained assessors to go out and do stormwater assessments. We're requiring that stormwater assessors have their Building Performance Institute Analyst (BPI) accreditation - that basically helps them better determine stormwater issues or opportunities as it applies to the properties and homes.

For our installers, we've trained a greater variety of installers because there's a little bit more in the variety of green tools. So the types of installers are going to be general contractors and landscapers. And we have masonry contractors for the depaving portions of the program.

Do you see this kind of work as a growth field in the future, and if so, what are the indications of that?

Absolutely. Philadelphia has become a leader in the method that it has come to address its stormwater problems. Some other cities are choosing to address the issue in the back end by increasing the capacity of pipes and at the water treatment plants. What Philadelphia is choosing to do is a little bit more innovative, by treating the problem at the source, by treating it on site. So not only are we treating the stormwater through these practices, but we're helping to beautify our city, because the planter boxes and rain gardens and trees add an aesthetic value - not only are we resolving stormwater problems but we are able to green and beautify our city through these programs.

And since Philadelphia has acted as a leader in this method for managing stormwater, we're hoping that Rain Check, and Philadelphia's stormwater program overall, which is called Green City, Clean Waters, can serve as a model for cities throughout the nation as they address their stormwater issues.

And in a cost effective way.

Exactly, particularly in Philadelphia because of the scope of our sewer system. It's prohibitive cost-wise to rehabilitate all of our sewer systems and by completely trying to address the issue of stormwater by increasing the capacity of our plants. What Philadelphia needs to do to address its type of water problems is a more comprehensive approach. While we can do some of the other things such as increasing capacity of sewer systems and treatment plants, doing things like stream restoration and public outreach, we're also going to be doing things like green infrastructure and low impact development, such as the green tools we talked about.

Sounds like a win win solution. Thanks for your time.

Thank you.


Blogger's note: The Rain Check program is in pilot phase, and currently not registering additional residents. Further opportunities to join will be forthcoming. For more on this and other programs from the Philadelphia Water Department visit www.phillywatersheds.org
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From Brownfield to Greenfield

Liberty Lands Park.

It’s hard to tell that the two acre parcel that is now Liberty Lands Park in Philadelphia was once an industrial brownfield. And it's hard to believe that the surrounding Northern Liberties community used to be one of the only neighborhoods in Philadelphia without a public green space. Liberty Lands is now a vibrant, essential part of that community, and a symbol of what resourceful neighbors can do with a few shovels, some environmental know-how, and a commitment to making their community a better place.

What is now a park, community garden, playground and state-of-the-art model for water management was once the Burk Brothers Tannery. This former brownfield or contaminated land was made safe and usable after the hazardous materials were removed by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1987.

After the pollution from the tannery was cleaned up and the contaminated materials were subtracted, biosolids, or nutrient-rich organic materials that are a bi-product from treatment of sewage at water treatment facilities, were used to improve the quality of the land. Biosolids act as a natural fertilizer, enabling the soil to retain more water and nutrients and made it possible for the growth of a community garden, an herb garden, and the more than 180 trees that the park now features.

In 1995, a development company planned to convert the land into loft apartments. When the deal fell through, the land was donated to Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association (NLNA). Since the community didn’t have a green space, neighbors envisioned and created designs for a park. In 1996, the NLNA and the project received funding from the Philadelphia Urban Resources Project.

Trail at Liberty Lands Park

Flowers in full bloom.

By the spring of 1997, with the help of other generous donations and volunteer labor, Liberty Lands was born. The park now has partnerships with Philadelphia Urban Resources Project, the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society (PHS), Philadelphia Water Department, Pennsylvania Department of Environment Protection (PA-DEP), TreeVitalize, and the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program.

More recently, the park was selected for a storm water management project. The PHS designed the project and was funded by Philadelphia Water Department/PA-DEP with the aim of easing loads on local waste water systems. Additional community support has funded the instillation of a cistern that will allow for water efficiency and conservation as water will be diverted towards irrigation.

The storm water management system establishes methods that could be utilized across the city and once again demonstrates how Liberty Lands is a model of a sustainable green space and an excellent example of grassroots community building. (See more on Philadelphia's innovative new storm-water management and green infrastructure programs at our previous posts at Home Science and Designer In Exile).

Children's garden.

Green Infrastructure landscaping.

A Few Words with Liberty Lands Park Coordinator Liz Reed.

Many people have pitched in to turn the Northern Liberties lots into a green space. Among them is park coordinator Liz Long Reed. She and her husband William Reed, co-owner of the popular restaurant, pub, and entertainment venues The Standard Tap and Johnny Brenda's, have a great history putting together fun events at the park. Recently we chatted with Liz about her related experiences:


What do you think is the single most significant function of Liberty Lands?

I think the thing that makes Liberty Lands special is that it is versatile. It's lots of things to lots of people. Even with the addition of the stage and rain garden, we purposely thought about how it would be used when there wasn't a major music or rain event going on. We want people to explore and hang out in that area.

What, if anything, has been the biggest hindrance in making Liberty Lands what it is today?

I suppose that would be lack of funds. Regardless, I think we make the most of our time and our volunteers to keep the park safe and looking its best.

What is your favorite part of the park?

That would have to be where I get to sit back and just enjoy it with my neighbors. A close second is that we own it. If we find the ways and the means to make stuff happen, we can do what we want. Like today, my husband/dedicated park volunteer went out with three extension cords and a giant drill to fix a planter that some enthusiastic bunch tipped over and broke last year. Our neighbor will meet him later in the week with his bobcat to pick the heavy top up and place it so it can be re-cemented in place. It's our park, so we can be as creative with our time and energies as we see fit. It's like a big common back yard.

Does the Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association have any new plans in store for the park or any other other green spaces in the area?

Yes to both. We hope to build a "potty shed." A neighbor designed it to house a port-a-potty on one side and a tool shed on the other. The idea is that people then can pay an annual fee to get the combo to use the toilet, and the fees cover the maintenance contract. If, for whatever reason, it doesn't work out, then we end up with one big shed.

In addition, the NLNA got a grant to green the area from 2nd Street to Delaware Avenue along Spring Garden Street. This includes planting 50 trees on April 17th. And the Philadelphia Water Department and Philadelphia Horticulture Society have started revamping the Dough-boy pocket park at 2nd and Spring Garden as we speak. It will include new storm-water amenities.


This article was posted previously on our sister site Designer In Exile.

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• City Is Recruiting Parks and Rec Staff: Look Out, Aprils Of Northern Liberties

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• Azavea Creates the PhillyStormwater.org Web-Based System to Support the Philadelphia Water Department's New Green Stormwater Management Program

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