Philadelphia has provided localized incentives for its residents to go green. Recently the city promoted RetroFIT Philly’s “Coolest Block” Contest, which was a competition between blocks in Philadelphia to win a “cool roof” coating and insulation for every house on the block. The winner was 1200 Wolf Street in South Philadelphia, who had a block party in June as they were preparing for their free energy audits and upgrades. Besides this residential push for cool roofs, which increase the efficiency of the home, as well as the life of the roof, all new commercial and residential construction in Philadelphia is required to include cool roofs. This law will be a major step in increasing energy efficiency in Philadelphia. They Mayor, Michael Nutter, is the leader of his pack with his goal to help Philadelphia become the “greenest city in America”, using four main channels in the Office of Sustainability: Energy Conservation Initiatives, the Solar City Partnership, Green Buildings, and Partnerships with External Organizations.
                These plans are coordinated and organized by Greenworks Philadelphia, which in May celebrated its first anniversary of helping to green-up the city. The job of Greenworks is not simple. They are not only tackling getting solar energy on roofs or improving the energy efficiency of buildings, they are also improving the city’s recycling program (almost tripling the amount of recycling in some areas), changing traffic lights to LEDs, green jobs training, and helping local food move even closer and more accessible to residents. They have a total of fifteen targets which they are hoping to complete over the program’s intended six year period.

With all of this heartening development in green activism, the Philadelphia area made a smart choice for groSolar’s most recent regional sales office, which opened in June in Broomall, PA. The Vermont based company will be able to help Philadelphia and the rest of Pennsylvania achieve their green goals by helping local residents go solar!