Philadelphia, PA - Philly.com:
City Gets Stimulus Dollars For Energy Conservation
October 8, 2009 06:00 AM
Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today that Philadelphia, Pennsylvania will receive $14,108,700 in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to support energy efficiency and conservation activities. Under the Department of Energy’s Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program, Philadelphia will implement programs that lower energy use, reduce carbon pollution, and create green jobs locally.
Philadelphia will use its Recovery Act EECBG funding to realize many elements of Greenworks Philadelphia, the city's sustainability strategy, which calls for a 30 percent reduction in municipal energy usage by 2015, while also promoting energy efficiency in sectors such as transportation and waste management.
The city will replace nearly 400 traditional wire litter baskets with 260 solar compactors and 115 on-street recycling units. The compactors are self-powered and automatically compact the waste when the trash reaches a certain level. The program will need to provide schedule collection only twice a week, providing a significant reduction in the vehicle miles traveled by diesel-powered trash trucks.