With all kinds of new data out there demonstrating U.S. solar growth (here, here and here), we wanted to offer our insights into how these successes are playing out in one of our key campaign states: Pennsylvania.

Over the past couple years, Pennsylvania has become a real solar powerplayer. Having developed (more…)

A lot of attention has been paid to creating a greener building stock by incorporating green building practices into building codes.  The development of the International Green Construction Code is just one example.

However, there are two primary components to every regulation–policy and process.  Both components (more…)

Pennsylvania has come under fire lately as pollution from drilling in the Marcellus Shale threatens water resources across the state. But instead of ratcheting up oversight, Gov. Tom Corbett wants to hand authority over some of the state’s most critical environmental decisions to C. Alan Walker, a Pennsylvania energy executive with his (more…)

(Reuters) – A top Pennsylvania Republican rejected a Democratic-sponsored plan for taxing natural gas production on Wednesday, vowing to stop a bill that he said would drive energy companies out of the state.

The opposition will force Governor Ed Rendell, a Democrat, to seek a compromise between Democratic and Republic plans. (more…)

While lawmakers deliberate over the fate of Pennsylvania’s solar industry, the state’s Public Utility Commission remains engaged in its own efforts to provide a stable foundation for solar energy growth.

Just last week, the Commission released a long awaited policy statement and voted 5-0 to establish long-term revenue stability for (more…)

Pennsylvania knows power. Having pioneered both the nation’s first nuclear power plant and the world’s first commercial oil well, the Keystone State remains a top energy producer in the country. Now there’s a new energy revolution underway based on harnessing the sun, wind and other clean energy resources. There is no reason (more…)

Pennsylvania residents whose streams and fields have been damaged by toxic spills and whose drinking water has allegedly been contaminated by drilling for natural gas are suing the Houston-based energy company that drilled the wells. A worker at the company is among the 15 families bringing suit.

The civil case, filed Thursday in U.S District Court in Scranton, Pa., seeks to stop future drilling in the Marcellus Shale by Cabot Oil and Gas near the town of Dimock. It also seeks to set up a trust fund to cover medical treatment for residents who say they have been sickened by pollutants. Health problems listed in the complaint include neurological and gastrointestinal illnesses; the complaint also alleges that at least one person’s blood tests show toxic levels of the same metals found in the contaminated water.

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A growing number of U.S. colleges and universities supported green initiatives during the last year despite declining endowments, according to a report released by the Sustainable Endowments Institute.

Twenty-six of 332 schools evaluated in the College Sustainability Report Card received the highest-possible grade of A-minus through sustainable management of campus operations and endowment practices.

Now in its fourth year, the College Sustainability Report Card evaluates schools in nine categories, including climate change and energy, food and recycling, and green building.

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This post is dedicated to my hometown, Hazleton Pennsylvania

This corridor hits close to home for your humble correspondent as I, Alexander John Lennartz, am a born and raised Pennsylvanian…who did not step foot on a passenger train in the state until age 25 when I moved to the greater Philadelphia area.

In my part of the country there is no passenger rail. A fact of life for the good people of Northeast Pennsylvania is that you cannot live without a car. This was, is and for the foreseeable future will be to only mean of transportation over mid to long distances. Pennsylvania’s proud locomotive heritage has fallen to the point that many in the state regard trains in the historical sense, no longer are a form of modern transportation. The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Lancaster Country is a testament to when rails crisscrossed the Keystone State and help build and power America, moving goods and people quickly and efficiently.

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Summer’s comin. Sun, sand, beach and shiga toxin.

Shiga toxin?

Yep, it’s a gene that can make swimmers sick. And health departments don’t test for it in places like Michigan and Pennsylvania. They test for E. coli, an indicator bug that’s much better known, but isn’t always harmful. So the beach you visit may be “clean” for E. coli, but not shiga toxin. That can keep you up at night, literally (severe gastrointestinal illness).

A two-year study by Mercyhurst College says there’s a need for standardized tests for specific pathogens like shiga toxin to better protect the public.

Talk about a Clean Tech opportunity.

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