Municipal

The three port authorities along the Delaware River--the Delaware River Port Authority, the South Jersey Port Corporation, and the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority--teamed up on a regional effort to improve the sustainability of their individual and collective operations. This initiative, called the Green Ports Initiative, will allow the participating authorities to have both immediate and long-range actions to meet their sustainability goals, operate with greater efficiency, and lessen their impact on the environment when fully implemented.

This past June, Haverford Township’s Board of Commissioners voted in favor of a geothermal energy system for the proposed Community Recreation & Environmental Center, set to be completed in 2012. The facility will be located at Haverford Reserve, on the sprawling 160 acres of land the township has recently developed into a park and nature preserve. The space, located off of Darby and Marple roads in Haverford, was the former home of Haverford State Hospital, which was closed by the state in 1998.

BCCF Headquarters is more than a physical building project—it is a community building project. Through a collaborative process, educational outreach, and compelling design, the project has created a ripple effect by inspiring other owners and developers to build more sustainably. With this larger community goal in mind, BCCF challenged the team to set an example of environmental stewardship that is economically defensible.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's second green office building, Cambria, has more green features and a higher level of environmental awareness than PA DEP's first building—the South Central Regional Office Building. This 36,000 ft2 facility, designed for approximately 125 occupants, has collected data and documented many facets of its green design initiatives.