Yes, I know. I have no excuses, only pictures.
Have you been to Kennywood yet?
These small unattended girls, who despite wearing school uniforms were not in school during school hours, have been blurred to protect their identities.
solar panel + green roof = how did i not know about this?!
Where else in the ‘burgh can I find these?
Were they retrofitted or was an entire shelter constructed to complete the project?
Who did this – the city? PAT? East Lib? Nonprof?
I want answers, people!
Don’t you just love social media?!
No sooner did I post my questions about the green bus shelter in East Liberty, then answers started to appear!!!
The project was brought about by East Liberty Development, Inc. in cooperation with the Sprout Fund‘s Spring program in an attempt to educate people on the street level about the benefits of green building design:
This particular solar panel produces energy to power a pump that pulls captured rainwater from the ground level back up to the green roof or to a nearby tree. Get it? Its self-powered and nothing is wasted. I’ve mentioned feedback loops before, and a green roof is a great visual example of how to close them.
Green roofs have many benefits, which are explained in the video by project leaders Loralyn Fabian and Katherine Camp:
fostering biodiverstiy mitigating stormwater runoff energy saving curbing the heat island effect education through signage on shelterYay for green infrastructure and sustainability awareness in urban projects!!!
Don’t you just love Pittsburgh? ♥
Because sometimes you have to venture out of Steeler Country to make dreams come true.
Thank you Giant Eagle, my favorite place to grocery shop, for providing me with my first glimpse at the electric car charging station. Just the other day she♥ and I had been discussing the benefits/drawbacks of electricity-powered cars. Some electric cars tend not to do well on long-distance trips, so we wondered if charging stations would begin to appear along highways.
With a little research I found that the Chevy Volt, a plug-in hybrid vehicle, can be driven cross-country and performs well. It has a 1.7L engine, so it only requires a 9.3 gallon gas tank. The savings are incomparable – it costs only 2¢ a mile to fuel using gasoline, because it relies mainly on battery power. To charge the Volt: only 80¢ a mile. I can almost overlook the $40,000 price tag because there is a $7500 tax rebate, a government-offered incentive hoped to stimulate investment in electric powered vehicles.
I found a helpful map online with zoom capabilities which lists the electric fueling stations in Pennsylvania.
SOLE for the Soul 