By Tina Casey •
November 3, 2009
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Pittsburgh has been laying the groundwork for a high tech green jobs renaissance ever since its mighty steel mills shut their doors 30 years ago. Now the payoff is coming. FLABEG, the global specialty glass manufacturer, has just opened a solar mirror factory by Pittsburgh International Airport that will bring an estimated 200 jobs to the region, and perhaps as many as 300.
The new $30 million facility will initially focus on its core production line of parabolic curved solar mirrors. Months before the plant opened it already received 700,000 orders, and FLABEG expects to reach a capacity of 1 million mirrors annually.
By Joe Walsh •
September 23, 2009
As the world arrives at the UN ahead of Copenhagen, the US has more to lose than China in an escalating war of words over climate change leadership.
By ZipCar •
June 25, 2009
Last year, 300 folks across North America turned in their car keys for a month as part of the 2008 Zipcar Low-Car Diet. And, in addition to cutting congestion, they also walked 85% more, biked 136% more and decreased their miles driven by 71%. Pretty impressive, eh? Starting July 15, a new crop of participants from all Zipcar cities worldwide* will begin the 2009 Low-Car Diet: one full month of living [...]
By Dave Tyler •
March 31, 2009
Pittsburgh’s plans to make itself into a hotbed for solar power and other green technology got a metaphorical fist bump last week with the visit of two cabinet secretaries to announce funding from the federal stimulus package.
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced $11 million green stimulus funding during their trip. They also toured a welding and heating and air conditioning training facility at Allegheny County Community College, where officials showed off the skills needed for energy efficient projects. Allegheny County will get $8.1 million, City of Pittsburgh will receive $3.4 million out of a $3.2 billion pot being divvied up around the country.
By Dave Tyler •
January 27, 2009
Pittsburgh may be the next center of solar power in the U.S. Yes, that Pittsburgh.
On Monday Mayor Luke Ravenstahl held a day-long seminar with planning and development types on the potential for solar power in the Steel City. The mayor said city government will install a solar hot water heating system, a first for the city, at a to-be-determined firehouse.
By Caroline Savery •
October 27, 2008
Part 2: Do Fireworks Pose Significant Environmental Danger?
Pittsburgh, PA. A place known for its peoples’ good ol’ blue collar fervor, our enthusiasm for everything from our football team (STEELERS!!) to our beer (Iron City) to our hoagies (Primanti’s, brother!). We are thus naturally inclined to encourage bombastic public demonstrations of our affection–in this case, in celebrating ourselves!
I viewed the record-setting Pittsburgh 250 fireworks display from a wonderful vantage point on the North Shore, as I cheered my city on from the balcony of McFadden’s with a massive group of Couchsurfers visiting Pittsburgh for their regional meet-up weekend. All the while I was marvelling at the bright splashes and the thundering bursts–thirty minutes in duration!–the thought kept flitting across my mind: “what exactly is IN that massive smoke cloud pooling across the river?”
The Composition of Fireworks, a page compiled by Reema Gondhia at Imperial College in London, gives you the factual rundown of the makeup of fireworks. A firework’s chemical arrangement, however ingeniously designed to manifest our titillating visual delights, provides some unsettling names–chemicals with long rap sheets from research institutions indicating their threat to living systems. Read on for some distrubing examples.
By Caroline Savery •
October 26, 2008
Part 1: Pittsburgh’s Environmental Record–and “The Smoky City’s”
Love of Fireworks
On Saturday, October 4, 2008, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania celebrated its 250th birthday in a climax
of a fireworks display, thirty minutes long and launched from 17 different locations around the city, including barges floating on Pittsburgh’s three rivers and off of downtown skyscrapers.
Pittsburgh loves its fireworks.
I’ve noticed that after every Pirates game, whether the outcome is good or bad, there are fireworks. Steelers games. Community events. And now, Pittsburgh’s 250th birthday warrants the biggest blast of them all. How many folks out there have actually watched fireworks for thirty straight minutes? Since Pittsburgh’s 250th birthday celebration, I have. Your neck hurts!
In the official press release about the event from Zambelli Internationale, Pittsburgh set a record of 17 firework launch positions, “the largest in the country.” The site also describes a formidable array of effort: 40 professional pyrotechnicians and nearly 40,000 fireworks went into Pittsburgh’s big day.
Personally, while I was watching the spectacular displays, after a while I stopped being awed by the visual splendor and noticed my mind wandering to this thought: “what exactly is in those thick black clouds of firework byproduct eclipsing downtown?”
