This year, 10 students in Hill College House, 10 in Kings Court English College House, six in Rodin College House and one in Tau Epsilon Phi are being trained to be sustainability ambassadors to their fellow residents. They hail from the schools of Arts and Sciences, Nursing and Engineering and Applied Science and the Wharton School. Their major challenge is to educate fellow students about Penn’s environmental goals, outlined in the recently launched Climate Action Plan, and the art and science of living green.

“We believe motivated students who are interested in environmental issues can help their peers make better choices and decisions in their behavior as it relates to the environment,” Dan Garofalo, the University’s sustainability coordinator, said.

The group, which has been meeting for several weeks, is focusing on the University’s environmental commitments, that include reduced energy consumption and carbon production, improved waste reduction and recycling habits, water conservation practices, green transportation alternatives and consumer choices. Overall, the goal is to create a more sustainable campus environment.

The Eco-Reps meet weekly with a program coordinator to learn the science behind the effort, discuss strategies and goals and exchange ideas for implementation.

“Penn’s program,” Garofalo said, “is unique in basing participation in the students’ residences, creating monthly themes to focus activities and supporting the effort with a detailed technical manual and dedicated staff management.”

Penn’s Eco-Reps are building up to their first joint event: an energy-conservation challenge whereby the residents of each building will pledge to “unplug, turn down or turn off” their electronics and thermostats while they’re away during winter break. Energy data will be compared to last year’s to see the reductions.

The program is being piloted in Penn residences selected because of house culture and the interests of house deans, but the University expects to expand the program across the entire campus. A parallel program for staff Eco-Reps is under development.

Additional information about the Eco-Reps program is available at www.upenn.edu/sustainability/eco-reps.html.

Media contact  Julie S. McWilliams 215-898-1422 juliemcw@upenn.edu

Press Release

The parcel, located south of Walnut Street, with Amtrak rail lines to the east and the SEPTA rail corridor to the west, is 14 acres of land Penn purchased from the U.S. Postal Service in 2007 as well as 10 acres the University already owned below South Street.

Penn Park, the centerpiece of Penn Connects, the University’s 30-year master plan, should be completed by 2011. The park will bring 20 percent more green space to the urban campus, while creating a new gateway uniting University City with Center City.

“For far too long, these 24 acres of pure potential stretching along the west bank of the Schuylkill River have been buried under a cold carpet of asphalt and concrete,” Penn President Amy Gutmann said. “After 25 years in the making, Penn Park is finally becoming a reality, and it will put Penn, yet again, at the forefront of innovative land use and responsible urban design, weaving the eastern edge of campus into the daily fabric of Center City life. “

A team led by landscape-architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates of Cambridge, Mass., along with 13 consultants, designed the space to include three athletic fields, a 12-court outdoor tennis facility, a multi-level elevated walk to allow pedestrian movement throughout the site and a raised central plaza with Center City skyline views.

The playing fields will be multipurpose with synthetic turf for club, intramural or recreational games. One field will be covered with a seasonal air structure to create an indoor environment that will allow athletics programming throughout the winter months.

Sculptural landforms, planted with a variety of trees and native grasses, will define the playing fields and support the pedestrian walkways. A storm-water management system is planned to capture and divert rainwater into underground cells to supply the site’s irrigation system. Park lighting will feature energy efficient fixtures with shielding to prevent light pollution.

Additional information about Penn Park and Penn Connects is available at www.pennconnects.upenn.edu.

Media contact  Julie McWilliams 215-898-1422 juliemcw@upenn.edu

Related Press:
Philadelphia Inquirer
Philadelphia Business Journal
University City Review

Penn's decision to partner with Bon Appétit came, in part, because the company’s industry leading practices tie in closely with the University’s sustainability commitments. Bon Appétit’s ground-breaking initiatives, such as the Low Carbon Diet program, align perfectly with the University’s Climate Action Plan and will help enhance Penn’s overall goal to reduce its carbon footprint. Here are several highlights of the sustainability commitments of Bon Appétit at Penn Dining:

Eat Local Challenge: On Tuesday, September 29, Bon Appétit at Penn Dining hosted the 2009 Eat Local Challenge.  Within each café, there was at least one designated station highlighting a lunch option made with ingredients from within 150 miles of Penn (The only exception is salt). At Kings Court café, 100 percent of the food served was made from local ingredients, including Penn Vet Ice Cream, provided by the Marshak Dairy at Penn Veterinary Medicine’s New Bolton Center campus in Kennett Square.

Farm to Fork: At least 20 percent of the food served by Bon Appétit at Penn Dining is from within a 150-mile radius and grown or prepared by small farmers and artisans supporting nearby farms, including Hendricks Farm, Telford, Pa.; Lehman's Eggs, Greencastle, Pa.; and Heritage Tree Fruit, Richwood, N.J.

Sustainable Seafood: Bon Appétit’s seafood is purchased in accordance with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch guidelines for sustainability.

Low Carbon Diet: Through this revolutionary program Bon Appétit is implementing operational changes to minimize our impact on climate change.

rBGH Free Milk: Bon Appétit purchases milk from Wawa all of which is free of artificial bovine growth hormones.

Antibiotic Reduction: Turkey and chicken are raised without antibiotics as a routine feed additive, and our hamburgers are made from natural beef.

Cage-Free Eggs: Our eggs are Certified Humane and cage-free.

The food served at Bon Appétit at Penn Dining locations is not only grown and raised responsibly; it is fresh, flavorful and cooked from scratch. Healthful and nutrient-rich foods are mainstream offerings at all locations and kitchens are trans-fat free. Just as important, Bon Appétit at Penn Dining recognizes the great power and importance of food. Dining rooms are gathering places, and breaking bread together helps create a sense of community and comfort. The goal is to safeguard the well-being of our guests, the community and the environment. For more information about Bon Appétit at Penn Dining, visit www.upenn.edu/dining.

The exciting new program will award allocations of up to $50,000 to members of the Penn community for projects that aim to reduce the University’s greenhouse gas emissions and overall environmental impact.

Proposals to the Green Fund will be evaluated based on the impact of the project on Penn’s carbon emissions (among other environmental factors), savings accrued to the University, and the overall cost of the proposed project.  While awarding creativity and innovation, priority will be given to projects with anticipated results that are able to demonstrate a quantifiable return on investment, or that could secure additional funding apart from the Green Fund grant. Applicants are also encouraged to develop projects that are effective in educating or changing behavior and engaging multiple stakeholders throughout the Penn community.

The Review Board for the Green Fund is a group with a wide range of interests and areas of expertise, representing a number of schools, centers and organizations on campus. The board incorporates the Environmental Sustainability Coordinator, both UA and GAPSA, Penn Professional Staff Association, the Office of the Provost, the School of Arts and Sciences, Business Services Division, Facilities and Real Estate Services, and the School of Design.  The School of Design will be represented by Mark Alan Hughes, former Director of Sustainability for the City of Philadelphia, and current Distinguished Senior Fellow at the School of Design and the T.C. Chan Center for Building Simulation and Energy Studies.

Penn Environmental Sustainability Coordinator Dan Garofalo praised the support that came in creating this new program, saying that the Green Fund is a “great opportunity to engage the entire university in achieving significant carbon reduction.”

Applications to the Penn Green Fund can be made on-line, at www.upenn.edu/sustainability/greenfund.html

For more information on this fund, or with comments or questions, please contact sustainability@upenn.edu.

College freshman Deirdre Bullard donned her Halloween costume a day early to promote Penn Environmental Group’s annual GreenFest on College Green. The event brought together both student and non-student groups that share the common purpose of encouraging green lifestyles and spreading environmental awareness.

Students who attended the fair had the opportunity to sign up for clubs, learn about green community projects or simply tie-dye a t-shirt. This year, more groups came out than ever before, according to College sophomore Abby Waldorf, who, along with fellow PEG members and College sophomores Ashima Sukhdev, Anna Caffry, was responsible for GreenFest this year.

This year, PEG aimed to get as many groups involved in GreenFest as possible, according to Sukhdev and Caffry. The increased participation this weekend reflected Penn’s increased interest in environmental issues, they added.

At the event, PEG debuted a new program that gives local food, retail and business establishments “green” certification for meeting certain pollution and conservation standards: Green Acorn Business Certification. Program director and College sophomore Doug Miller said the program will help students utilize more environmentally conscious businesses in their daily lives.

Green Campus Partnership, an umbrella organization that addresses sustainability and policies at Penn, was also featured prominently at the event. The partnership, along with Community Energy — a company that markets and supplies clean energy — has worked hard to make Penn’s energy use as sustainable as possible.

Due to their combined efforts, 40 percent of the university’s energy load is offset by wind power, making Penn the number one school nationwide in use of wind energy.

But Friday, increasing awareness involved more than just informing students. The Penn Vegan Society fed participants vegan cakes and cookies that — as College sophomore and group president and co-founder Victor Galli explained to surprised students — contained no milk, dairy or eggs.

Meanwhile, the Penn Outdoors Club provided s’mores.

Other local groups and businesses were present to promote their work, including PhillyCarShare, University City Green and Penn Transit.
In the end, the hyena said it best.
“People want to learn how to be more green all around.”

Originally published in the November 1, 2009 issue of The Daily Pennsylvanian.

The development of Penn’s Climate Action Plan was spurred by President Gutmann’s 2007 signing of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment pledge, which bound the University to assess its carbon emissions from greenhouse gases and submit a long-range plan reducing its carbon footprint by Sept. 15, 2009. Penn was among the first of the now 600+ colleges and universities to sign this pledge, and the first among the Ivy League institutions.

“Penn is proud to be an environmental leader among American colleges and universities,” Gutmann said. “Our new Climate Action Plan outlines the next bold steps we will take to further reduce our carbon footprint, including strategies to promote recycling, increase energy efficiency and apply innovative design and construction methods. The health of our planet depends on our actions and Penn is committed to leading higher education’s green revolution into the future.”

Upon signing the pledge, Penn created a sustainability coordinator position, conducted a comprehensive inventory of its greenhouse gases by the Penn School of Design’s TC Chan Center for Energy Simulation (for the years 2008, 2008 and 2009) and convened a multi-faced committee of faculty, students and staff to research and develops the goals of the plan, which are:

• Conserve Energy: Achieve a 5 percent reduction of energy across campus by 2010 and a 17 percent reduction by 2014.
• Minimize Waste: Achieve a 100 percent increase in recycling across campus by 2014 -- from the current 20 percent diversion rate to 40 percent.
• Reduce Emissions: Motivate more than half of the University population to walk, bike, and carpool or use public transit for their commute.
• Design Green: Build new LEED-certified buildings and landscapes as part of the 30-year Penn Connects campus master plan, and retrofit and re-commission existing buildings in a more sustainable way.
• Learn Sustainability: Ensure that the whole Penn community has the opportunity to learn about the issues of sustainability as an integral part of the curriculum and as part of the Penn experience.
  

As the new academic year begins Penn is already implementing the goals of the Climate Action Plan through recent actions such as:

• PennGreen, the University’s four-day pre-orientation program introduced 40 selected new students to Philadelphia's leading environmental initiatives.
• Hiring new dining services vendor Bon Appetit, known nationally for its sustainable food sourcing
• Eco-Reps - a pilot program for 2009 in which each floor in designated resident halls will have student volunteers providing information on energy use, recycling and other environmental concerns.
• Purchasing services directs buyers to sustainable choices.
• The Green Fund for sustainability projects will make available up to $50,000 to any group in the Penn community to change behavior, educate, or implement technical solutions that reduce campus emissions and improve sustainability.
• Penn was the first major university in the nation to purchase sustainable commencement caps and gowns, made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic bottles.

The full Climate Action Plan is available at www.upenn.edu/sustainability.

Original Press Release

Media contact: Julie McWilliams at 215-898-1422 or juliemcw@upenn.edu

...which required the schools to assess their emissions and submit long-range plans for reducing their carbon footprints. By now, more than 600 college and universities have signed the pledge.

“Penn is proud to be an environmental leader among American colleges and universities,” Gutmann said, according to publicity information provided by the university. “Our new Climate Action Plan outlines the next bold steps we will take to further reduce our carbon footprint, including strategies to promote recycling, increase energy efficiency and apply innovative design and construction methods. The health of our planet depends on our actions and Penn is committed to leading higher education’s green revolution into the future.”

Penn has created a sustainability coordinator position. Its greenhouse gas inventory was conducted by the School of Design’s TC Chan Center for Energy Simulation. A committee of faculty members, students and staffers developed the goals of the plan. Penn describes them this way:

• Conserve energy: Achieve a 5 percent reduction of energy across campus by 2010 and a 17 percent reduction by 2014.
• Minimize waste: Achieve a 100 percent increase in recycling across campus by 2014 -- from the current 20 percent diversion rate to 40 percent.
• Reduce auto emissions: Motivate more than half of the University population to walk, bike, and carpool or use public transit for their commute.
• Design green: Build new LEED-certified buildings and landscapes as part of the 30-year Penn Connects campus master plan, and retrofit and re-commission existing buildings in a more sustainable way.
• Learn sustainability: Ensure that the whole Penn community has the opportunity to learn about the issues of sustainability as an integral part of the curriculum and as part of the Penn experience.

Penn has begun implementing some of the goals, and here are some of the steps it is highlighting:

• PennGreen, the University’s four-day pre-orientation program introduced 40 new students to Philadelphia’s leading environmental initiatives.
• The university has hired a new dining services vendor Bon Appetit, known for its sustainable food sourcing.
• Resident halls now have “eco-reps” - student volunteers providing information on energy use, recycling and other environmental concerns.
• University purchasing agents are now being directed to sustainable choices.
• A new “Green Fund” will make available up to $50,000 to any group in the Penn community that aims to change behavior, educate or implement technical solutions that reduce campus emissions and improve sustainability.
  

Incidentally — and counted as part of the goals — Penn recently purchased commencement caps and gowns made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic bottles.

The full Climate Action Plan is available at www.upenn.edu/sustainability.

Originally posted on "Green Space," the blog of Philadelphia Inquirer environmental reporter Sandy Bauers.

Jointly offered by the Fels Institute of Government and the College of Liberal and Professional Studies, the program will enable students to earn a Masters of Environmental Studies and Governmental Administration over a period of two years.

According to Yvette Bordeaux, director of the professional master’s programs in Earth and Environmental Science, both schools finalized the decision to introduce the dual degree this summer.

“Both state and local governments are starting to deal with issues of sustainability,” Bordeaux explained, adding that individuals capable of bridging the gap between environmental science and government are currently in high demand.

While the degree will require students to complete both Master’s programs, it permits some courses to be double-counted, reducing the overall number of requirements. Under the dual degree curriculum, students will finish 18 courses instead of the 24 they would have been required to complete had they pursued each degree separately.

In addition, the program will enable students to complete both degrees in significantly less time than that required to earn each individually. While each of the MGA and MES Master’s degrees requires one-and-a-half years — including summers — to complete, the dual degree program can be finished in two years.
Students must apply to each degree program separately and be admitted to both to gain entry.

Over the course of their studies, dual degree students can also opt to work with nonprofit organizations to gain firsthand field experience. In the past, the MES program has placed students at internships with the Environmental Protection Agency, Philadelphia Water Department and Philadelphia Global Water Initiative. Likewise, the MGA program also allows students to work in the nonprofit sector.

“We need people in government and policy-making that understand the issues,” Bordeaux said. “The leaders who can go out and understand environmental science and make policy from that are going to be extremely important as we go forward.”

According to Penn President Amy Gutmann, the program is “in an area in which [faculty] are leaders in teaching and research,” and the dual degree will “increase Penn’s strength.”

While some other Ivy League and top public and private universities — such as Yale, Duke, Johns Hopkins and Columbia Universities — have Master’s of Environmental Management programs that compete with Penn’s MES degree, College of Liberal and Professional Studies Enrollment Management Director Nora Roberts [Lewis] said, none of these institutions offer a similar dual degree program that trains students in both environmental studies and public sector management.

Originally published in the October 14, 2009 issue of The Daily Pennsylvanian.

The program is an interdisciplinary minor formed through a partnership between the School of Arts and Sciences, the Wharton School, and the School of Engineering and Applied Science. It will provide students not only with the scientific aspects of sustainability, but also a keen ability to assess risk and change associated with environmental issues.

An exciting new offering from these undergraduate schools at Penn, this minor offers great breadth across the disciplines to confront key environmental challenges in today’s world.

The newly designed Penn InTouch interface now provides students an easy way to find classes of interest during Course Selection Days, including new and exciting academic opportunities in sustainability.

Penn InTouch now boasts a keyword search function where students can search for environmental sustainability courses. Other alterations to the system, such as expandable menu items, convenience links, and a revised registration process, have made course registration much more accessible to the users.

Students can access information on course schedules, course topics, and even course syllabus before they choose to register. With a revamped Penn InTouch, greening your class schedule is as simple as typing “sustainability”.

The four-day program will provide the students with an environmental introduction to the University and Philadelphia and offer them a chance to form relationships with peers interested in environmental activism. Participants will meet faculty, learn about campus recycling and Penn building projects that are designed to meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards, volunteer at a local urban farm, partake in and learn about how the community participates in the sustainable food and living movement and take an ecological river tour among other activities.

The 36 incoming students will be under the direction of Chuck Brutsche, associate director of the Fox Leadership Program, and will work with 14 upper-classmen who are members of the Penn Environmental Group or are involved in some way with the green movement at Penn, including senior Laura Boudreau.
“We learned during last year’s PennGreen sessions that everyone takes something individually out of the experience, something they will find they will be motivated to pursue and enjoy,” Boudreau said.

Boudreau said the program will provide the students a day at Penn’s Morris Arboretum, where the group will tour the building site for Penn’s first LEED platinum-certified building. A trip to the Blue Mountain Recycling Center or a chat with former Philadelphia sustainability guru Mark Allen Hughes is next on the schedule, as are visits to both Millcreek Farm, an urban farm in West Philadelphia, and the organic Charlestown Farm in Chester County. They’ll also have breakfast with senior administrators where they will hear about a variety of Penn sustainability initiatives before traveling to the Harrisburg area by bus for a canoe trip and ecological tour of the Harrisburg urban watershed in which the students can learn what is being done to preserve the Susquehanna River.

PennGreen is sponsored by Penn’s Office of the Provost, the Undergraduate Assembly, the Division of Facilities and Real Estate Services, the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women and the Earth and Environmental Science Department.
Reporters and photographers are invited to attend any of the sessions. Additional information is available at www.vpul.upenn.edu/osl/preprog/pgdesc.html.

Media contactJulie McWilliams 215-898-1422 juliemcw@upenn.edu

The Commons is a new model that allows anyone who is interested in viewing the lectures and participating in the forum to do so, regardless of enrollment status, education level or geographic location.

The first course being offered on the Commons is Global Environmental Sustainability, a prototype involving undergraduates and faculty from Penn, as well as students from other universities around the world, including Kyung Hee University in Seoul and Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. In fact, anyone in the global intellectual community who wishes to participate in the discussion may do so.

The United Nations issued a call for institutions of higher education everywhere to collaborate in the World Civic Forum, which focuses on ways to devise governance systems within and between nations to create and implement policies related to climate change. The Commons Global Environmental Sustainability course will engage interested parties around the world to contribute to this solution-oriented discussion.
Undergraduates who have enrolled in the course will present their research projects at the United Nations’ World Civic Forum in Seoul in May.

Lectures will be available online through the Commons, the LPS YouTube channel, as well as through iTunesU. Online participants can take polls, view and comment on student-led blogs, contribute to community discussion forums, view the course syllabus and reading list and engage with Penn and partner-institution students and faculty as well as other professionals in the field of global sustainability.

“A critical concept in the LPS Commons is opening the windows of opportunity in this new learning environment,” Marni Baker Stein, the director of program development at the College of Liberal and Professional Studies, said. “This will allow participants beyond students enrolled in a particular course, program or even university to join the debate and create a global discussion that crosses national, international and cultural barriers.”

Media contact  Jill DiSanto-Haines  215-898-4820   jdisanto@upenn.edu

The release of Penn’s Climate Action Plan has focused many on the news of the University’s ambitious short-term energy conservation goals. The plan calls for a 5 percent reduction of overall campus energy consumption for the 2010 Fiscal Year and a 17 percent overall reduction by the end of FY 2014. Meeting these goals will require a significant effort from every member of the Penn community, especially in terms of behavior change.

So what can you do to help Penn reach its energy conservation goals? Take a look at the Green Campus Partnership’s list of 10 simple changes you can incorporate into your daily routine that will reduce your energy consumption and, in turn, your carbon footprint.

• Turn off the lights when leaving a room.
  In the average U.S. home, lighting accounts for about 20 percent of the electric bill. Turning the light(s) off when not needed will keep a room cooler, an extra benefit in the summer.

• Use compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) instead of incandescent bulbs.
  Only approximately 10–15 percent of the electricity that incandescent lights consume results in light—the rest is turned into heat. ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs last up to ten times longer, produce 75 percent less heat, and will save about $30 or more in electricity costs over each bulb’s lifetime.

• Turn OFF your computer and other electronics when not in use.
  Common misconceptions and myths sometimes account for the failure to turn off equipment. Many people believe that equipment lasts longer or performs better if it is never turned off. This incorrect perception carries over from the days of older mainframe computers.
  
  Putting your computer in sleep mode or using a screensaver still uses a significant amount of energy. Both the computer and the monitor are drawing power to keep themselves in a suspended mode, ready to wake up the second you want to use them again. In fact, they could be wasting as much as a combined 12 watts if left on overnight. If you know you will not be using your computer or other electronic appliances for an extended period of time, turn it off so you do not waste energy.
  


• Plug chargers and home electronics, such as TVs and DVD players, into power strips; turn the power strips off when the equipment is not in use.
  Commonly referred to as “vampire” or “phantom” loads, many appliances found in stores today feature a standby mode that continues to draw several watts of power even when the device is turned off. Unplugging the appliance or using a power strip and using the switch on the power strip to cut all power to the appliance can prevent wasted energy by “vampire electronics.” The same practice should be applied to phone chargers, which continue to waste energy if left in the outlet after charging.

• Look for the ENERGY STAR label when purchasing appliances and electronics.
  ENERGY STAR products meet strict efficiency guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency and provide users with dramatic energy and cost savings. The EPA estimates that it saved about $14 billion in energy costs in 2006 alone through the ENERGY STAR program.
  
  Devices that carry the ENERGY STAR logo consume an average of 20-30 percent less energy than standard or outdated electronics and appliances. The best part about using ENERGY STAR products is that they do the work of conserving energy for you. All you have to do is make the right decision to purchase them.

• Wash your clothes in cold water and only wash full loads of laundry.
  About 90 percent of the energy used for washing clothes in a conventional top-load washer is for heating the water. There are two ways to reduce the amount of energy used for washing clothes: (1) use less water and (2) use cooler water. Unless you are dealing with oily stains, the cold water setting on your machine will generally do a good job of cleaning your clothes. Switching your temperature setting from hot to warm or cold can cut a load's energy use in half. If you want to reduce your energy consumption even more, air-dry clothes on clotheslines or drying racks.

• Adjust thermostats to 68 degrees during the winter and 78 degrees during the summer.
  Simply setting your thermostat 1 degree lower in the winter and 1 degree higher in the summer can reduce your energy consumption from 1 to 3 percent. You can save over 10 percent a year on your heating and cooling bills at home by adjusting your thermostat to dial down when you are not at home.

• Use curtains, blinds and your wardrobe to regulate indoor temperature instead of blasting the heat or air conditioning.
  In the winter, maximize the potential to heat your room naturally by closing your curtains and shades at night and opening them during the day. Keep windows on the south side of your house clean to maximize use of natural sunlight during the winter.
  
  During the summer, your air conditioner must work harder to cool hot air from sunny windows. Install white window shades, drapes, or blinds to reflect heat away from the house and close curtains on south- and west-facing windows during the day.


• Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
  If you were to walk up and down 3 flights of stairs instead of using an elevator, it would save 15 watts a day (450 Wh a month). That’s enough energy to power a 37" Plasma TV for 3 hours.


• Report all leaks.
  A leaky faucet can waste over 2,000 gallons of water per month if left unfixed, and a “running” toilet can waste over two gallons of water per minute. Simply reporting these issues will yield a huge reduction in Penn’s annual water consumption, and fixing them at home can save more than 10 percent on your water bill.

OptiNet is an intelligent air monitoring system unlike any other system currently on the market. It operates on the concept of demand control ventilation, which determines the quantity of outside air necessary in a facility in proportion to its occupancy and air cleanliness based on a set of parameters: carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), particulates, total volatile organic compounds (TVOC), temperature, and relative humidity.

The pilot, installed in one vivarium suite in Hill Pavilion and in one lab suite in the Lynch Life Sciences Building for just over a year, already is producing significant energy savings in both buildings. Since the installation of the pilot Aircuity systems, significant energy savings have been realized with no deterioration in indoor air quality; the estimated payback period is less than two years. The pilot program is now being expanded to other vivaria as well as to the Fisher Translational Research Center, now under construction.

The announcement was made at the dedication of Pennsylvania newest wind farms, the Exelon-Community Energy Wind Farms at Somerset and Mill Run. The event is being held at the Somerset Wind Farm and coincides with Gov. Mark Schweiker proclamation of "Wind Energy Week" for the week of Oct. 22.

The University of Pennsylvania, together with Penn State University, Philadelphia Suburban Water, Carnegie Mellon University and Giant Eagle Inc. have signed on to purchase 75 percent of what the combined 24-megawatt wind farms will produce annually. Penn alone will purchase the output of five of the 215-foot-tall, 1.5-megawatt wind turbines, equivalent to more than 30 percent of the total energy generated from the two new wind farms. This purchase represents the largest retail wind energy purchase in the nation to date and will satisfy 5 percent of the University annual energy needs.

Barry Hilts, Penn associate vice president of facilities; Mike Coleman, director of facility services; and students from the Penn Environmental Group are representing Penn at the ceremonies.

"Wee very excited to be part of a clean energy future for Pennsylvania and the nation," Hilts said.

"Penn is leading the way to a cleaner and more sustainable energy future," said Brent Alderfer, CEI president. "Penn students, faculty staff, and alumni can take pride knowing five large wind turbines are producing new clean home-grown energy on their behalf."

Press Release

Representatives from the seven houses worked with Penn’s Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs (OFSA), Facilities and Real Estate Services (FRES) and the Pan-Hellenic Council to establish the framework for a program that will expand to more fraternities and sororities this semester.

The program was initially conceived in 2004 by a group of environmentally conscious students, but fizzled due to coordination difficulties with waste management companies and the city.

Intent on reviving the Greek community’s recycling initiative, Elise Morocco of Delta Phi began researching the necessary steps to establish a structure for the program while enrolled in ENVS 494: Toward Environmental Sustainability on Penn’s Campus. After expanding on her research to include effective methods of encouraging behavior change in students, Morocco returned to Penn administrators with her new proposal.

University City District responded by donating 35 recycling bins for use inside the houses while FRES and OFSA provided the chapters with posters and scales.

Participating Greek houses, both on- and off-campus, include the Penn chapters of Pi Kappa Alpha, Pi Kappa Psi, Sigma Nu, Sigma Alpha Mu, Delta Phi, Zeta Beta Tau and Chi Omega.

Data was collected to determine the amount of waste being diverted from landfills and to get a rough estimate of the potential for a campus-wide Greek recycling program. Over the eight-week period, the seven houses recycled over two tons of paper, cardboard and commingled materials that otherwise would have been trashed.

With 22 University-owned fraternity and sorority houses on campus and 13 additional off-campus chapter houses, the fledgling program has an opportunity for continued expansion and success with additional support from the Penn Greek community. OFSA anticipates adding 12 more houses to the program this October, pushing the total number of participating houses past the halfway point of incorporating all Greek houses at Penn.

“I am so excited that our pilot program was successful, and that we have doubled participation this year,” Morocco said. “It really speaks to how much more aware students have become about the importance of environmental issues, and their willingness to make change.”

Fraternity or sorority houses interested in joining the Greek Recycling Program should have their respective Chapter President or House Manager email sustainability@upenn.edu.

By using solar panels on top of the unit to power its compaction mechanism, the BigBelly is capable of holding up to four times as much trash as a regular trash can, eliminating the need for Facilities crews to make three or four trips a day to empty overflowing bins.

The BigBelly cans were installed at several high-traffic locations on Walnut and Spruce streets to provide the Penn community with public recycling bins along the campus perimeter while reducing trash pick-ups and vehicle emissions.

Each unit has an electronic “eye” that senses when trash reaches a level that requires compaction and visually notifies Facilities crews when it needs to be emptied with the indicator lights on the front of the bin (the light periodically flashes green and should be emptied when the light changes to yellow). Thanks to their compaction capabilities, the new BigBelly triplets will need to be emptied only once a day or every other day.

The units’ recycling bins will further help reduce overflows by diverting recyclables from the trash; in other words, one BigBelly triplet provides the equivalent capacity of 6-7 receptacles. Several BigBelly units were also installed in areas with existing steel triplets, allowing the older triplets to be relocated to on-campus locations in need of public recycling bins.

Beyond Penn’s campus, BigBelly solar compactors can also be found on the Drexel University campus and throughout the City of Philadelphia, where 500 units were installed last April.

The GreenWeaver line of regalia by Oak Hall Cap & Gown, a Virginia manufacturer of academic apparel, is Penn’s latest greening effort. Under a recent agreement with the company, Penn will adorn its Class of 2010 seniors in gowns and caps made of 100 percent, post-consumer recycled plastic bottles.

“Penn will begin this academic year announcing our Climate Action Plan, the long-range strategy to reduce our carbon footprint,” Marie Witt, vice president of business services, says. “Part of that effort is to partner with vendors that promote eco-friendly options. What better way to culminate a year focused on sustainability than to have our students graduate wearing gowns made from recycled materials.”

With some 60 million plastic bottles going into U.S. landfills every day, the company said regalia made of recycled materials offers colleges and universities a chance to turn trash into keepsakes. Traditionally, Penn baccalaureate degree recipients purchase their caps and gowns and keep them as mementos.

The fabric will be spun from molten plastic pellets, with an average of 23 bottles needed to make each gown. Recycled plastic bottles are already used to make sweatshirts and other clothing, the company said, and the result is apparel virtually indistinguishable in color, feel or fit from traditional polyester material.
Penn students receiving advanced degrees as well as faculty, trustees and others involved in commencement will continue to wear rented regalia.

For every gown purchased, Oak Hall said it will make a contribution to a campus environmental group. At Penn, the contributions will be designated for the University’s Green Fund.

Originally published in the Penn Current.

They all but hugged the thing as they posed with it and cut a big green ribbon tied around its middle. Called the BigBelly, the new can on the block - in this case, 15th Street and JFK Boulevard at JFK Plaza - has a solar panel that powers a trash compactor, allowing the bins to accept four to eight times as much waste before being full.

Instead of having to be emptied 19 times a week - like the current wire bins - the BigBellys are expected to hold out for more than a day and require emptying only five times a week, saving staff time, fuel costs, and greenhouse-gas emissions. As the bins fill, a sensor will shift from green to yellow to red, and the BigBelly's wireless device will phone Streets Department headquarters with the news.

By July, 500 BigBelly "ecostations" are to be installed between South and Spring Garden Streets from the Schuylkill to the Delaware. Of those, 210 will have companion recycling bins - marking the debut of on-street recycling in Center City. This, too, could produce savings because landfilling is more expensive than recycling.

"We're very excited," said Streets Commissioner Clarena W. Tolson.

"We're saving taxpayer dollars." Richard Kennelly, vice president of marketing for BigBelly Solar, in Needham, Mass, crunched some city numbers, coming up with $12.9 million in savings over 10 years.

The Center City litter baskets required 33 workers to empty, Tolson said; the BigBellys will need just eight. The others will shift jobs.

Mayor Nutter, clowning as he investigated the device, invited South Philadelphia resident Kelly Collins to be the first user and toss in his soda cup. "See?" Nutter said, turning to beam at the small crowd that had assembled. "You don't need any instructions. Anybody can do it."

Meanwhile, officials bid good riddance to Center City's 700 wire litter baskets. They had overflowed too often. The trash had blown out. They had filled with rain and attracted rodents. The BigBelly is supposed to solve those problems because it's enclosed. Sheet metal cloaked in heavy plastic, it is meant to last eight years. It has withstood Midwestern floods, Canadian winters, and even young men and beer in Boston. After the Celtics won the NBA championship last year, hoodlums managed to upend a BigBelly, but only because they dislodged the paver it remained bolted to. Crews repositioned the Belly in time for the parade the next day, Kennelly said.

BigBelly compactors take trash in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, Chicago's Millennium Park, Boston's Fenway Park, and Walden Pond, now a tourist spot.

Philadelphia paid $2.2 million for its bins, but it used state money - funding awarded to municipalities based on recycling rates. Philadelphia's rate has risen from 6 percent - once a national embarrassment - to 12 percent this year. Officials credit single-stream recycling, which became citywide in January.

The city's Greenworks plan, a sustainability road map announced Wednesday, calls for increasing the city's recycling rate to 70 percent by 2015. Nutter said the BigBelly could help the city get there. Officials picked Center City to launch the program because it has the most pedestrians with the most trash.

The BigBelly has already been granted the official nod of Drexel University and the city housing authority. Drexel purchased 11 last summer, and they worked so well that the university added five more in February. All but one have the companion recycling bins. Since then, the university's recycling rate has increased 13 percent, and nearly a third of that is due to the BigBellys, said Mike Smith, director for facilities management.Last spring, the housing authority installed 25 bins in nine developments.

With the old cans, said spokesman Kirk Dorn, litter was strewn on the ground around them. It either blew out or was the result of the common - and commonly failed - maneuver of "shooting" trash as if it were a basketball toward the container.

The BigBelly is "more inviting," Dorn said. "They encourage the residents to put the trash in."

After a one-year trial of a single BigBelly compactor, the University of Pennsylvania has installed 10 more in the last month, said Anne Papageorge, vice president for facilities. She said she was unsure how to marry the look of the BigBelly with the stone-and-ivy aesthetic of Penn. So for now, the bins are in perimeter locations. But when she heard Philadelphia's units had custom-designed panels, she perked up.

"We'll have to work on that," she said.

Contact staff writer Sandy Bauers at 215-854-5147 or sbauers@phillynews.com.

According to the The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2008 American Community Survey, Philadelphia ranked first among the 10 largest American cities for bicycle commuters. While 0.55 percent of commuters ride bikes to work nationwide, this figure is 1.6 percent in Philadelphia — almost three times as high.

Philadelphia’s percentage of bicycle commuters is higher than that of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — the three largest cities in the country.

The study also found that between 2005 and 2008 bicycle commuting in the city saw an increase of 97 percent, and surrounding counties also saw significant gains in bike commuting, according to a press release from the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.

The Coalition’s 2008 report saw similar statistics, such as a doubling in the number of riders who cross the Schuylkill River bridges on bikes.

On this side of the Schuylkill, Penn is doing its part to encourage bicycle ridership.

Environmental Sustainability coordinator Dan Garofalo pointed to a number of initiatives Penn is taking to make biking to and from campus, as well as around campus, an attractive alternative to driving.

The University has added several new bike racks so riders can securely lock their bikes. Garofalo, who commutes to campus on his bike, said the covered bike racks in parking garages have become very popular.

New racks are also strategically placed in well-lit and camera-monitored spaces to deter theft wherever possible by making the bikes “look unattractive” to thieves, he said.

The University is also subtly urging bikers to stay off of the crowded Locust Walk.

The newly repaved 36th and 37th street walks have added bike racks closer to the street to encourage riders to park their bikes and walk through campus.

The Division of Public Safety also held its Share the Road awareness event last month to teach bicyclists and drivers alike about rules and regulations.

According to some, though, the popularity of biking in Philadelphia and on campus may just be a reflection of students and citizens rather than specifically because of the University’s initiatives.

“People who bike are going to bike no matter what,” said College junior Kevin Schreiber, who rides his bike regularly.

Originally published in the October 21, 2009 issue of The Daily Pennsylvanian.

In partnership with the Division of Public Safety, Business Services and Facilities and Real Estate Services (FRES) have been working hard to support cyclists while educating motorists and cyclists alike on proper conduct while sharing the road. FRES has installed more than 100 bike parking spaces over the past year, with new bike corrals at several locations across campus. The bike corral offers a safe haven for cyclists with new U-racks, CCTV camera coverage, and convenient locations within walking distance to many campus buildings.

Business Services has joined the cause by installing new bike racks in parking garages around campus. The new locations in both Lot 37 (34th and Walnut Streets) and the Fresh Grocer parking garage (40th and Walnut Streets) offer covered and secure bike parking within sight of parking attendants.

Penn Transit, under Business Services direction, has also shown its commitment to sustainable transportation by installing bike racks on the front of the buses. Furthermore, Public Safety has increased efforts to educate cyclists about the rules of the road, how to properly secure bicycles and other aspects of road safety.

A new “Share-the-Road Campaign” is under way this fall to ensure all users of public space -- motorists, cyclists and pedestrians -- are aware of the rules and their rights. Penn has also coordinated with the city’s bicycle and pedestrian coordinator to support new cycling infrastructure in the streets, has teamed with the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia in bicycle advocacy and has shown support for a city-wide bike sharing program.

To learn more about the new bike rack locations and other information about cycling safety, click here.

The event will feature information on public transportation, biking and bike safety, car and van pooling and other options to make commuting more affordable and more sustainable.  Representatives from SEPTA, PATCO and New Jersey Transit will be on hand to help individuals plan their routes.

Faculty and staff can also meet with representatives from Penn Transportation and Parking to learn about discounts for employees who use mass transit. The fair will be held in conjunction with the Employee Resource Fair from noon to 2 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 19, in the Hall of Flags at Houston Hall.

In an effort to learn more about Penn commuting habits, we are asking members of the Penn Community to take the 2009 Parking and Commuter Survey at: www.upenn.edu/survey/parking. Two respondents will win $100 in transit checks.

By 1960, when the Eagles' Chuck Bednarik stopped the Packers' Jim Taylor in the waning moments of the NFL championship game and sat on him till the clock ran, preserving a 17-13 victory, it had been rebuilt as the nation's first double-tier stadium.

Next season, the arena will have another tier, but it'll be underground, a creative reuse of ancient assets that's a key challenge for our historic crumbling city.

Whether it's a 100-year-old rowhouse, 80-year-old school or 50-year-old warehouse, most Philadelphians face the "blessing in disguise" of fitting tomorrow's uses into yesterday's buildings.

With prominent siting along rail lines and the interstate, Franklin Field is an iconic gateway to Philadelphia. Along with the sacred ground of the Palestra, the two buildings form a kind of acropolis of sport rising above the river. The ambitious new Penn Park along the west bank of the Schuylkill will frame that view in powerful new ways.

That's all great, but old buildings can create challenges for institutions that must live in the next century and not just celebrate the last. For example, where does a modern weight-training facility go in a building constructed on the principles of a Roman aqueduct?

Take a walk along the south side of Franklin Field, and you can experience the power of the receding and interlocking arches that turn little bricks into an enormous structure. Working with columns and beams added with the second tier in 1922, those arches hold up the 50,000 seats that horseshoe around the track and field.

The arches also create fabulous spaces underneath them, which is where the word arcade comes from. For decades, that arcade has been treated as a leftover: a place to wait in line for tickets or, more often, to park your car or maintenance truck.

But as Penn moves east toward Center City, Franklin Field will become a campus center, not the ragged edge. As University City and Center City finally knit, thousands will walk along the Franklin Field arches.

As often happens, solutions came from respecting the power of the original building. Within those arches, Penn is building the $27 million George A. Weiss Pavilion, donated by the alumnus known for his financing of the college educations of public-school kids from West Philadelphia.

The pavilion will house a new varsity athletes' training facility excavated from around the foundations of the arches, new retail at ground level for the sports venues and a fitness center for students and staff occupying a new mezzanine level with views of Center City.

As befits the Roman-inspired space, archaeology by the architects led to the discovery of usable space below grade. Crawford Architects of Kansas City, Mo. (best known for Baltimore's Camden Yards and the expansion of Boston's Fenway) used the archives, consultation with the water and streets departments and excavation to discover 28 feet of loose fill that could be removed, doubling the amount of space for the project.

It takes guts to get things built, and one of the gutsiest things I've seen on a site was executed by the Hunter Roberts construction company.

Concrete columns have stabilizing elements called pile caps, masses of concrete at the bottom of the columns. Four of these caps interfered with the design of the new lower-level weight room. The solution? Rebuild them lower and out of the way.

But that meant cutting out and removing the bottoms of the four columns to rebuild them. How to support 50,000 seats and billions of bricks while each column was cut and rebuilt? Take out one column and the stadium could collapse like a wave traveling through a rope.

So the team designed a temporary steel brace that would transfer the column's load to the two adjacent columns. For the time each column was being cut and rebuilt, that steel had to hold the load in place, with no more movement than the thickness of a piece of paper.

Reusing old buildings takes creativity, daring and sometimes brings unexpected bills. But you get what you pay for. Being able to pump iron in the only place where Vince Lombardi ever lost a playoff game is worth the trouble.

Mark Alan Hughes teaches at PennDesign and the TC Chan Center for Energy Studies. E-mail: mahughes@design.upenn.edu.

Originally published in the November 11, 2009 edition of the Philadelphia Daily News.

Penn Park will be built on what had been 24 acres of asphalt and concrete, much of the land purchased from the Postal Service two years ago. Penn President Amy Guttman says it's being transformed into a lush, green urban oasis and gateway linking University City and Center City:

"When Penn Park is complete, the space behind me, Walnut Street, will be filled with state of the art playing fields for soccer, lacrosse and other sports and over there, toward South Street, tennis players will be practicing on a dozen new courts."

But she says everybody will be welcome:

"Students, downtown workers, neighborhood families and tourists will be strolling or biking along elevated walkways that will criss-cross the paths and really make this a park that flanks the river."

Penn Park is scheduled to open in 2011.

KYW-AM 1060 Newsradio

The $46 million riverfront development project on the eastern edge of campus will include athletic fields, tennis courts, bike trails, and a multilevel elevated walk. It will increase the urban university's green space by 20 percent.

Replacing bland asphalt lots and an old industrial site, the project will help to transform the landscape of West Philadelphia, and link the university's main campus with bustling Center City.

In short, it's trading ugly for pretty.

Construction is scheduled to be complete by mid- to late summer 2011, in time for the start of that academic year.

"It's a tremendously exciting time in Penn's history, to be able to add a significant amount of open space adjacent to the campus in an economic climate like this," said Anne Papageorge, Penn's vice president for facilities and real estate services.

Penn in 2004 purchased 14 acres from the Postal Service and announced plans for the park, two office towers with a mix of university space, retail and residential areas, and a 2,400-space parking garage. The park project also includes 10 acres previously owned by the university.

A developer purchased the postal building from Penn - making Penn's net cost for the postal lands $12 million - and will lease it to the IRS after renovations are complete. Construction of the garage also is under way and is scheduled to be completed next summer, and plans are in the works for the towers.

But Papageorge said the towers project, in partnership with Brandywine Realty Trust, may be delayed given the economy.

Their construction could be "impacted by the credit markets and just the fact that people are not really making bold moves into new space in this economy," she said. The towers are scheduled to be completed between 2012 to 2014.

Penn will occupy about 100,000 square feet of the 40- to 50-story office tower on Walnut Street, with commercial space on the ground floor. The 25- to 30-story tower on Chestnut Street would be residential, and might include some boutique office space, she said.

Penn president Amy Gutmann has called the project, estimated to cost $1.94 billion, a new "Gateway to the University."

"For far too long, these 24 acres of pure potential stretching along the west bank of the Schuylkill River have been buried under a cold carpet of asphalt and concrete," Gutmann said in a statement yesterday.

Gutmann, along with the board of trustees, in town for a scheduled meeting, will celebrate at a groundbreaking for the park this afternoon, which coincides with Homecoming weekend.

Penn Park was created in part to respond to the community's desire for more green space, Papageorge said. While the fields will be fenced in, and usage will have to be scheduled, the park will be open to the public, she said.

The park will span Walnut Street to just south of South Street and from the Amtrak rail lines to the east to the SEPTA rail corridor on the west. The landscape-architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates of Cambridge, Mass., is leading the project.

The park will include an inflatable structure that will enclose one of the fields in colder months so it can continue to be used.

Three multipurpose athletic fields, 12 tennis courts, a raised central plaza, and gradually descending walkways also are planned. The bike trails will connect to the trails on the Center City side of the Schuylkill through bridges.

The park will include a system to harvest storm water and irrigate fields, and feature native plants, trees, and energy-efficient lighting.

Originally published in the November 6, 2009 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Attendance at this session represents the first step toward employee LEED certification under the 2009 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards.

Workshop participants may go on to become ambassadors in green design, construction, and operations as “Green Associates” or LEED Accredited Professionals in specialty areas such as Design & Construction and Operations & Maintenance. Topics covered included an introduction to the LEED rating system’s six main categories: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Materials & Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Innovation in Design, as well as discussion of the new LEED v.3 point system, case studies, and credentialing requirements.

FRES hopes that the session will help staff members facilitate Penn’s commitment to LEED Silver certification for all major projects and increase awareness of sustainability’s role in the University’s approach to its physical environment.

Workshop feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with many participants reporting an increased understanding of the LEED rating system and a desire to pursue Green Associate or LEED AP accreditation. Other schools and centers have stated their interest in running similar workshops in the coming months.

One of the most significant environmental challenges facing Philadelphia is pollution of its rivers.  Like many of America's older cities, Philadelphia has a combined sewer/stormwater system, in which underground sewer pipes also carry away excess stormwater after a rainfall.  During significant rain events, excess stormwater from city roofs, roads and parking lots can overwhelm the sewage treatment plants, resulting in untreated sewage being washed directly into the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers.

Since a good portion of the city is comprised of rooftops, one of the key strategies to reducing stormwater runoff is using green roofs, roofs planted with vegetation or grasses, to slow the passage of rainwater into the sewer system.  In cooperation with the Philadelphia Water Department Office of Watersheds, Penn is exhibiting best practices in sustainability by installing green roofs on a number of buildings.  By capturing rainwater and reducing it slowly over time, Penn's green roofs lessen the burden on the West Philadelphia sewer system, while providing several additional environmental benefits.

Green roofing systems help keep the top floor of a building cooler by reducing the rooftop temperature during hot months, while the plants and soil insulate the building from sub-zero temperatures and icy winds in the winter.  The plantings extend the life of the roof waterproofing membrane by protecting it from UV light and extreme temperature swings.  In addition, green roofs can provide a habitat for a number of insect and bird species, increasing urban biodiversity and creating a healthier ecosystem.

Living landscapes above Penn building spaces are located at the Hill Pavilion of the Vet School, Koo Plaza at Huntsman Hall, Nursing’s Claire Fagin Hall courtyard, Kings Court English College House, and The Radian apartment complex.

The area targeted for the makeover is located along the Schuylkill between Walnut and South Streets.

The space - to be known as Penn Park - is now a parking lot once used by the U.S. Postal Service. When complete in 2011, the space will combine with existing athletic fields to create a 24-acre park.

It's not often a public open space crops up in the middle of an urban jungle. The park should beautify an ugly stretch along the river and serve as a green jewel connecting West Philadelphia to Center City.

The park is the centerpiece of the university's 30-year master plan first unveiled in 2006, called "Penn Connects." The plan is a continuation of Penn's efforts over the last decade to break down the walls - both physical and psychological - that the university erected in the 1960s and 1970s.

In the 1990s, Penn launched an effort to spruce up the streets surrounding its campus, opening a hotel and attracting restaurants and shops. The university offered employees incentives to buy homes near the campus and partnered with the Philadelphia School District to start an elementary school in West Philadelphia.

The proposed park is the latest welcome addition that will further transform the landscape surrounding the Ivy League campus of the city's largest private employer.

The University of Pennsylvania announced yesterday that it would spend $40 million to convert the asphalt lots into Penn Park, consisting of open space, four athletic fields, a dozen tennis courts, and other features. Combined with existing athletic fields, the park will total 24 acres, officials said.

The area - bounded by Walnut Street, South Street, the Schuylkill, and the university's main campus - will be designed by landscape architects Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, officials said.

"This is the first time that Penn, by design, has acquired land that will remain as open space," university president Amy Gutmann said in a statement, "which has tremendous environmental benefits for our campus and the city."

The project will also feature tree-topped berms, seating, and native species of meadow grasses. The park will be open to the public, and the athletic fields will be used for regulation, club and intramural competition, practices, and public access at specific times, officials said. Anne Papageorge, the university's vice president for facilities and real estate, hailed the project as innovative.

"It's not every day that an urban campus has the opportunity to expand adjacent to its campus and add 14 acres of open space and athletic fields," Papageorge said. She added that the project, which is scheduled to begin this spring and is to be completed in spring 2011, would not displace any residents or businesses.

"This was vacant land," Papageorge said. "We're removing a brownfield, an eyesore. We're doing this in a sustainable way. We're using native vegetation and trees." A storm-water management system is being installed to capture and divert rainwater into underground cells to supply the site's irrigation system, Papageorge said.

The work is the centerpiece of the university's 30-year master plan known as "Penn Connects - A Vision for the Future," which was published in 2006.

"Penn Park," Gutmann said, "will dramatically enhance our athletic and recreational amenities, create a beautiful new campus gateway, and further link University City and Center City."

Contact staff writer Vernon Clarkat 215-854-5717 orvclark@phillynews.com.

Why do you do what you do?
My interest in sustainability grew out from my architectural career, and the gradual change in the profession to take the environmental impact of the design and construction industry more seriously.

When did you know you wanted to direct your attention to environmentally concerned issues?
Early in my career, my interest was more directly focused on social justice and social equity – I was the first Chairman and founder of the Community Design Center, Philadelphia’s pro-bono design center.  After I started work at Penn in 2001, I was asked by the administration to represent Penn during the formation of the local chapter of the US Green Building Council – the Delaware Valley Green Building Council. This founding group had an astounding amount of talent and energy – true national leaders in the Green Building movement, and each meeting served as a personal tutorial about how we can build more sustainably.

I recognized that environmental stewardship and social responsibility are really two sides of the same coin – they represent the same mission to provide for a better life for future generations and protecting the weakest and most venerable in our society today.

What was the last book you read?
The last book I read was Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder, the amazing story of Dr. Paul Farmer and his Haiti-based organization, Partners in Health.  Farmer’s genius and energy is inspiring – but makes us all look like lazy sloths in comparison.  Still, it’s an inspiration. I’m currently reading a book on the American Chestnut Tree, which was virtually eliminated by the Chestnut Blight in the early years of the 20th century. It’s fascinating reading, if a bit nature-nerdy.

Most recent volunteer work?
Well, I guess you can call it volunteer work, but it was so much fun it didn’t seem like it.  From September 26 to October 1, I biked from New York City to Washington, DC, with 150 other riders as part of the 2009 Brita Climate Ride. This fundraising ride was to raise money and awareness for the need for climate change legislation – and I turned out to be the 6th place fundraiser by raising over $6000 with my Philly teammate Kristin Sullivan, who runs Mayor Nutter’s solar energy initiatives.   The beneficiary groups were the Rails to Trails Conservancy, Clean Air – Cool Planet, a non-profit technical assistance group that helps institutions calculate their carbon footprint and develop reductions strategies, and Focus the Nation, a political advocacy group.

Favorite local restaurant?
Well, I tend to eat at the White Dog a lot – it’s close, and Judy Wicks is a personal friend.  But I’m really starting to get to know Local 44 too.  If you have been there, I don’t have to tell you why, and if you haven’t made it – I’ll just say, “Go there thirsty.”

Who is your most memorable Penn professor? Most memorable course?
There have been so many – I’m three classes away from my third Masters, and my Penn education started in 1985, so I have a lot to choose from.  Back in the ‘80s, when I came to Penn to study architecture, my focus was on urban design, and the best studio class I took was from architects and urban designers Richard Bartholomew of WRT and Bob Brown of Brown & Keener.  Bob Brown was also my thesis critic – my thesis was on urban housing and a market in the Central Ward of Newark, NJ, and I had a great time pulling that project together.

Two other highlight classes were from widely varied topics – one in the Fels Institute of Government:  Dr. John Mulhern’s class on Politics, Technology, and Economic Development, and in the Masters of Environmental Studies program, John Keene’s Environmental Law class.  Both helped me understand how our urban systems developed, and provided insight into why cities takes the form they do.

Do you have anything plugged in at home right now?
Besides the refrigerator and my clock radio, I actually have very little electronic gear.  The TV is in the ground floor closet, since I refuse to pay for cable and only use it for DVDs anyway, I rarely pull it out.   (I know I’m missing this season of Dancing with the Stars, but it’s been so long since I’ve watched broadcast TV that I don’t really miss it.  And the local bars all show the Eagles and Phillies, so I don’t miss our playoff runs).

My most important electronic device is my programmable thermostat, that shuts off my furnace during the day when I’m at work and in the middle of the night when I’m sleeping, and turns it on again around quitting time and just before I get out of bed.  That $45 E-bay device probably has saved me $5000 in heating bills over the last three years.

In five years, what do you hope will be significantly different at Penn?
In five years, I expect that Penn (and our city) will have moved more significantly towards distributed energy generation. I think we'll see an explosion of research in solar voltaics, micro wind power, and breakthroughs in battery energy storage, so I anticipate seeing a lot of solar panels, small windmills, and electric vehicles on campus. Physically, Penn Park will have an enormous impact on Penn’s campus, and I’m hoping that we can find a way for students to get involved in tree planting both in Penn Park and our surrounding neighborhood in West Philly.

What Penn tradition do you hope will still be here?
Since I didn’t go to undergrad at Penn, I’m oblivious to some of the traditions.  Hey Day is a real puzzle to me – it seems it started as a picnic day down at the Fairmount Park on the Schuylkill decades ago, and I’m not sure why it transmogrified into something involving Styrofoam hats, drinking, and ketchup.  The service club traditions, such as Engineers without Boarders, Christmas in April, Tutoring in West Philly, and Spring Break service learning trips sound really laudable, and I’d love to get more involved in them.  A brand new tradition, the PennGreen pre-orientation program in environmental exploration of Philly, is a terrific idea from a number of undergrads, and I was thrilled to participate in that program this August.

What is the greenest thing you’ve done this month?
I'd have to say the Brita Climate Ride. It was a blast, more fun than I anticipated, and not as hard as I thought it would be (Although I’m glad I bought the expensive bike this summer and took the time to train). I rented a car and drove home, if you were wondering.

If you weren’t an architect, what would you be?
Either a writer or some sort of scientist, I think, and I’d hope I’d have a career that involved active non-profit work. I play a mean three-chord guitar, but don’t think I’d ever be good enough to fulfill the fantasy of rock guitarist.