Tuesday, June 07, 2011

In February 2011 NKCDC hosted its second annual Energy and Housing Fair at the Kensington CAPA High School. Hundreds of Fishtown and Kensington residents braved bracing winds to come to the new school and learn about saving money and saving the environment .

Sustainable 19125, an initiative of NKCDC, helped organize this year’s Energy and Housing Fair, in partnership with New Kensington’s Housing Counseling Department, the Office of Housing and Community Development and Kensington South NAC. Jamie Reese, a project coordinator for Sustainable 19125,  commented “Our goal is to make this greenest neighborhood in Philadelphia. Events like this are important for us because they help us get the word about how simple sustainable actions, like installing a CFL bulb, not only help the environment, they also help you save money.”

The fair featured over 30 vendors, including green energy providers, local banks and green construction companies. Activities were provided for kids, including a recycling relay, recycling bins were given out, and tours of the school were offered. Free workshops were provided throughout the day.

Sustainable 19125 partnered with New Kensington’s Housing Counseling Department to offer free weatherization workshops throughout the fair. Participants received a bag of weatherization supplies and hands-on training to use them. “The weatherization workshops are always a big hit,” Reese noted, “because you not only get great information, you also get free stuff.” Support for the workshop was provided by the Energy Coordinating Agency and the Philadelphia Office of Housing and Community Development. 

Additionally, PGW offered workshops on their online bill analyzer. The bill analyzer allows customers to review their gas usage and see where they’re wasting gas. (The analyzer can be found at https://www.pgworks.com/index.aspx?nid=327). Concilio provided workshops on lead and preventing lead poisoning in children. Bioneighbors, a Philadelphia green contractor, led workshops on green roofs. 

Students were on hand throughout the day to lead tours of the new school. The school, which opened in September, features a number of surprising green innovations. Its insulation is made out of old pairs of jeans. It’s heated by a geothermal system: 96 wells in the backyard keep the school a comfortable temperature year round. And it features 5 green roofs, rooftop gardens which absorb rain water.

All this adds up to a LEED platinum certification. LEED, a system of certifications offered by the United States Green Building Council, measures how sustainable a building is, in term of the amount of energy it uses, the amount of water it preserves and air quality. Platinum is the highest certification. The Kensington CAPA high school is the first school in the state to achieve a platinum certification.

“It’s really fitting for this fair, which is all about cutting down energy consumption, to be in this school, since this school is a model for how you can do that” Reese noted. “It’s also a window between Fishtown and Kensington. We hope the school can help bring the neighborhoods together a little bit.” Toward that end, Sustainable 19125 partnered with Kensington South NAC, which works in West and South Kensington.

Additional partners included the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, PECO, the Office of Housing and Community Development, New Kensington CDC’s Housing Department, Kensington CAPA high school, Josh Kleiman, a photography instructor at CAPA and coordinator of student tours, volunteers from the neighborhood and, finally, CAPA students who led the tours.