Tag: Triboro ecodistrict

Millvale Food + Energy Hub supports boroughs Ecodistrict goals

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Above: The solar panel installation on the roof of the Millvale Food + Energy Hub.

The Millvale Food + Energy Hub, formerly and affectionately known as the Moose, has converted 112 E. Sherman St. into a place for equitable community development to grow.

The 10,000-square-foot building is anchored by owner New Sun Rising and tenants Sprezzatura, 412 Food Rescue, The Food Trust, and FracTracker Alliance. Chosen for their missions that align with the Millvale and Triboro Ecodistrict plans, these dwellers reinforce the Hub’s sustainable origins.

When the property was purchased in 2017, the goal was to help advance Millvale’s vision to become a “self-reliant urban solar village, and foodie paradise known for hyperlocal production” said Scott Wolovich, Executive Director at NSR. 

It was an “aspirational concept,” Wolovich said, but increasing resiliency through a solar microgrid, fresh food access and growing capacity are important pieces of Millvale’s EcoDistrict Pivot 2.0 plan. Originally there were plans for a rooftop greenhouse, but the cost of the structural reinforcements needed was impractical. That determination quickly ignited ideas of “what could happen up there from a solar standpoint?”

“We were connected with the Energy GRID Institute at the University of Pittsburgh and discussed the possibility of developing a microgrid onsite,” Wolovich said. 

To make it happen, NSR worked with a handful of partners from locally owned and operated small businesses to nationally recognized organizations. 

Allegheny County companies Perfect Electric and Steel City Energy Conservation were brought in to install the circadian rhythm lighting and electrical, while EIS Solar engineered and installed the customized DC microgrid system including the solar panels and battery packs. 

“The monitoring system is more advanced than a typical system we produce,” said Ian Smith, Director of Residential Consultations at EIS Solar. Smith said the project hit a point where he invited engineers into the conversation because of the level of complication and customization to integrate the batteries with the microgrid.

To build the microgrid, the components needed to be bought separately and then unified with the SigmaSmart System, which allows everything to “talk, listen and be coordinated together,” Wolovich said. 

The SigmaSmart System was created by Sigma Luminous, a national company that sells products through the electrical distribution market working with manufacturer sales representatives like Gary Britcher of Steel City Energy Conservation.

Robert McCoy, Director of Sales at Sigma Luminous for the Eastern Region, said the Millvale Hub is the first non military and non university project his company has been involved in.

“It’s a very industrialized product that is used in a nonindustrial application when you think about it with the [10,000-square-foot] Food + Energy Hub, and that’s what’s different about it,” McCoy said.

McCoy said the SigmaSmart System allows information to be collected on how much solar power is being generated by the solar panels, is monitoring the circadian rhythm lighting, which changes the color of the lights in correlation with the sun to save energy and improve mood, and is also monitoring the HVAC system and the rest of the power flowing through the building.

SimpliPhi Power batteries store energy harnessed from the sun.

“All the things this little Moose lodge can do and what it entails, I’ve never seen anything that did that much in such a small space,” McCoy said. “To be honest, I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”

As a grad student at the Center for Energy at the University of Pittsburgh, Michael J. Rooney, Program Officer at Hillman Family Foundation, advised Wolovich on the Moose project and conducted a high level feasibility study around what could be done with the space from an energy perspective using research and development software from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. 

Considering the hardware that went into the building, a handful of vendors were explored to supply specific components for the microgrid such as the batteries, energy inverters, monitoring, and solar panels. There were deeper conversations with possible companies who would provide the controls, but by the time vendor selection came around, two leading companies that had been identified by the Energy GRID Institute to supply the controls were no longer producing solar microgrid hardware, Wolovich said. 

“The introduction to Sigma Luminous happened at a very critical time in the project,” Wolovich said. “We had opened up our search for the right vendor and talking with [McCoy]… there [was] a shared spirit of creativity in terms of building automation and educational opportunities.”

McCoy said after meeting Wolovich and learning the story behind the ecodistrict revitalization plan, he understood that the project was larger than the building itself.

Because the Hub now contains a DC microgrid, it’s able to provide uninterrupted communication and coordination out of the building during emergencies when the public grid may be down. If there is a flood, something that Triboro communities are familiar with, and the power goes out, the facility is able to continue running cooling and heating systems, refrigeration, lighting, provide internet, and become a shelter for Millvale during emergency communication efforts. 

Millvale is also considered a food desert, and having 412 Food Rescue and Sprezzatura in the building has helped combat the lack of fresh, affordable, and healthy meals by serving thousands of community members each month.

Hana Uman, Program Director of Special Programs & Projects at 412 Food Rescue, said the organization’s Co-founder and CEO Leah Lizarondo began conversations in 2016 during the Launch Millvale incubator about partnering with NSR in a larger capacity.

412 Food Rescue has been working with food retailers and nonprofits since 2015 to recover food, which would otherwise go to waste, and redirect it to food insecure communities. According to its 2018 Impact Report, 412 Food Rescue has currently salvaged over 2.5 million pounds of food that was redistributed to families in need.

Still, Uman said there are times when they can’t get produce to these areas fast enough, which led to finding space at the Food + Energy Hub to process and can produce for the Good Food Project. 

“The goal is to stabilize the surplus of food that 412 receives and transform it into meals and other products to benefit our nonprofit partners and communities as well as our organization,” Uman said. 

Ed Anderson, Culinary Manager at 412 Food Rescue, said his goal is to achieve zero waste status at the Moose by composting what cannot be canned, pickled, or prepared as a meal. He said he also envisions the space as “the next step for 412’s special projects, like food education programs and offering a comprehensive curriculum to nonprofit partners specifically targeting parents and caregivers of young children.”

Over the summer, Anderson cooked lunches for the Millvale Community Library’s Summer Food Service Program, which is federally funded and provides free meals for children 18-and-younger. Jennifer Saffron, owner of Sprezzatura, also provided meals for the program and is nestled next to 412 in the commercial kitchen they share inside the Food + Energy Hub. In November, Saffron will be opening a cafe at the Moose.

“Working in collaboration to develop a solar-powered building that supports different kinds of businesses has been a real learning experience—how much sun do we need to power up an oven that feeds thousands?” Saffron said. “There is more to discover, no doubt, and we can work together to community problem-solve for a sustainable catering and cafe kitchen, and a more sustainable future overall.”

Wolovich said Zaheen Hussain, Director of Sustainability at NSR, had brought forward an interesting point when they first began looking at the intersection of energy and food systems.

“As you have a more resilient clean energy system, you can actually increase food access by controlling the rent for food tenants through savings from the microgrid. This allows them to pay it forward by partnering with the Gardens of Millvale and participating in the Millvale Community Library’s Summer Food Service Program,” Wolovich said. 

Phase two of the Moose renovations have begun this fall using a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to remodel the lower level of the building and add an access ramp, which will make way for food storage and processing facilities as well as support from the Triboro Ecodistrict and Henry L. Hillman Foundation on a renewable energy workforce development training center. 

It’s been a heavy lift with many helping hands getting the Millvale Food + Energy Hub where it is today and it is pushing the possibilities in the areas of sustainable technology and innovation. Rooney said, in his opinion, the reason there aren’t more buildings like the Moose is because of the amount of time and level of creativity it took to bring all of the moving parts together.

“Scott basically project managed the building and his ability to do that and do it well was remarkable and made the project happen,” Rooney said. “Without that someone carrying the torch on a lot of these hard things, it doesn’t get done.”

Interested in touring the Millvale Food + Energy Hub and learning more about DC Microgrids? Attend “DC Microgrids in the Pittsburgh Region” on Tuesday, October 22 at the Moose. Attendees will hear from a panel of experts from organizations like EIS Solar, Steel City Energy Conservations, Perfect Electric, and others leading the development of DC Microgrid technology in the Pittsburgh region. 

 

Grow Pittsburgh celebrates a decade of community garden support

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Grow Pittsburgh celebrated 10 years of their Community Garden Program with Garden Get Down on August 29 at Grist House Craft Brewery in Millvale. Since 2010, they’ve supported 100 gardens, engaged over 2,000 individuals, and grown over 300,000 pounds of food.

During the event, tours were given of the Gardens of Millvale, one of the first Community Garden projects facilitated by Grow Pittsburgh,

“I think a big reason I’m [at this event] is because Grow Pittsburgh has done so many amazing projects all over the city and the fact that Millvale is one of their first is a big deal,” said Maya Guerin.

Guerin, a professional landscape gardener and environmental art educator, moved to Millvale three years ago. Over time she became heavily involved working in the community gardens and they have proved to be an incredible resource for her connection to the community.

That view was echoed by Katie Grauer who moved to Pittsburgh about the same time Guerin moved to Millvale. Grauer and her husband started their Pittsburgh journey in the southern region, but recently bought a house in Point Breeze.

“We took awhile to figure out where we could have a garden and where to dump compost,” Grauer said. “We connected with a [Grow Pittsburgh] gardener [in our area] and started volunteering with our local garden.”

Grauer said since that time they have been supporters of the organization; her husband now works for Grow Pittsburgh and both “love the culture” permeated by the org.

It’s a model recognized by Sustainable Pittsburgh, a nonprofit making moves in municipalities to address underserved communities and Program Manager Jim Price came out to support the Garden Get Down because he believes “urban agriculture is a great way to increase a community’s sustainability.”

“It provides local food access, lowers your carbon footprint, and engages community members,” Price said.

Price has been working with the Triboro Ecodistrict before it was defined as such, and said Etna, Millvale, and Sharpsburg “exemplify what is means to rebound from tough situations.” From flooding and population loss, the boroughs have moved forward and redefined sustainable neighborhood engagement.

“We hope that our collaboration with the ecodistrict process can help leverage it and make this a region wide effort to improve our area and become a model for community development,” Price said.

To learn more about community gardens in the Triboro Ecodistrict, stop by the following locations for a visit: The Gardens of Millvale, 12 Butler St, Millvale, PA 15209; The Garden of Etna, 9 Short Alley, Etna, PA 15223; Sharpsburg Community Garden, 1212 Main St, Sharpsburg, PA 15215″

Sustainability director raises bar for environmental quality of life

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt
Above: Zaheen Hussain (left) speaks on a panel discussion during the Climate Change Town Hall event hosted by Congressman Mike Doyle at Soldiers & Sailors Hall in August.

 

It can be extremely overwhelming for an individual to sit and think about the impacts of climate change. With the hottest June and July ever recorded alongside two of the wettest years in Pennsylvania history, we see and feel it happening. (Que existential dread.)

But with these mountainous challenges come the challengers invested in inspiring others and generating positive environmental impacts, one being Zaheen Hussain, Director of Sustainability at New Sun Rising.

Named one of NEXTpittsburgh’s “25 Essential Pittsburghers” for “his groundbreaking work building the Triboro Ecodistrict,” Hussain said his dedication for environmentalism and climate change was instilled in him at an early age.

Hussain immigrated from Bangladesh to the United States in the 1990s with his family in part due to the growing climate crisis. Even then, his father was aware of the position Bangladesh would be put in 100 years in the future: under water.

“The climate change conversation today in America is where the rest of the world was in the early 90s,” Hussain said. “The Rio [de Janeiro Earth] Summit, the Kyoto Summit… America committed to taking action on slowing down climate change and building resiliency, and then that went away.”

Bangladesh has a population of around 165 million people and as Hussain put it, is “about the size of Wisconsin,” which has a population of around 6 million. Alongside impending climate change and to increase the access to opportunity and quality of life for their family, Hussain’s parents applied for the Diversity Visa Program and began the process of emigrating to the US.

In high school and throughout college, Hussain studied environmental technology, environmental science, and natural resource economics, “but the policy and economic side really spoke” to him. After graduating college, Hussain worked as a park ranger at Harkness Memorial State Park and William A. Niering Nature Preserve in his home state of Connecticut.  It was then that he started searching the country for sustainability work around policy and economics, and applied for a number of Student Conservation Association Green Cities fellowships here in Pittsburgh.

“I didn’t get any of them, but the program manager opened my eyes to an opportunity with GTECH [now Grounded] Strategies for the Green Economies Initiative,” Hussain said. “I moved to Pittsburgh in February of 2012 thinking I’d be here for 10 months to build experience and go back east, but seven and a half years later here I am.”

Hussain said a large part of his professional journey has been the implementation of the Millvale EcoDistrict and Triboro Ecodistrict initiative in Millvale, Etna, and Sharpsburg that for him began in 2015 when he was hired as Millvale’s Sustainability Coordinator. The Millvale EcoDistrict Pivot Plan began in 2013, “which looks at Millvale’s economic development through the lens of sustainability in food, water, energy, air quality, mobility and equity,” Hussain said.

Christine Mondor, Principal at evolveEA, met Hussain after he was hired as sustainability coordinator and said literally and figuratively he was a “breath of fresh air for [Millvale’s] efforts.” Mondor said the two specifically did a lot of work together monitoring air quality, and that Hussain is “passionate and nerdy about it in the best way possible.”

“He’s curious, so he’s always trying to understand what things mean,” Mondor said. “He knows [the science] behind what’s happening and that’s important. He’s also really good at making people feel comfortable and bringing people into the conversation.”

In 2017, Hussain became Director of Sustainability for New Sun Rising while continuing his work as Millvale’s Sustainability Coordinator and “implement[ing] the Ecodistrict plan with attention towards leadership development,” Hussain said. “[Therefore], community organizations and individuals can become more empowered to be the leaders of the work and rely less on outside capacity.”

In his position with New Sun Rising, Hussain advocates for the Vibrant Communities Framework and heads Launch Sustainability cohorts that provides coaching, project development resources, and support to strengthen business plans or grant proposals. He also spends time creating partnerships with organizations like the Green Building Alliance, Allegheny County Conservation District, and Sustainable Pittsburgh. Hussain said it’s these partnerships that help grow NSRs Vibrant Communities framework, which encompasses creating a more sustainable and equitable Pittsburgh.

Rebecca Bykoski, Sustainable Pittsburgh Restaurant Program Manager, met Hussain when he was hired as Millvale’s Sustainability Coordinator and joined the Sustainable Pittsburgh Board of Directors. Bykoski said for the time that she has known Hussain, she has noticed that he has “helped create a culture change.”

“Sustainability isn’t always about being green,” Bykoski said. “He’s good at making sure equity and the needs of disadvantaged communities are part of the conversation and that the development that’s happening is equitable.”

With Pittsburgh being one of the worst cities in the country for air pollution and related deaths, Hussain said he is concerned by the continued investment in fossil fuel economies in the region and how that will negatively impact the progress made in the area involving environmental quality and quality of life.

“As a general philosophy, I think that people can’t look at human systems and infrastructure as something outside of nature,” Hussain said. “What people need to realize is that humans are part of natural systems like any other animal. The more we look at ourselves as something outside of nature, the easier it becomes for us to destroy the environment around us because we don’t see it as something impacting our lives.”

That kind of meaningful and cogent argument is a genuine sentiment from Hussain that encourages individuals, communities, and organizations to do better.
“He’s a very inspirational person and he makes you care more and want to do more,” Bykoski said. “The world would be better if it were full of Zaheen’s.”

Three boroughs, one green new plan

Posted on by Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Above: The Triboro Air Quality Monitoring Cohort gathered on July 24 in Sharpsburg to receive equipment and training from ROCIS (Reducing Outdoor Contaminants in Indoor Spaces) on recording air quality readings inside their homes.

Etna Mayor Tom Rengers was with Steamfitters Local 449 for 44 years, and a contractor with U.S. Steel for 18.

Rengers said over the decades, he has worked on coke batteries and installed piping for the Bruce Mansfield coal-fired plant in Beaver County; it was once the largest of its kind in Pennsylvania and currently slated to be deactivated by May 2020.

“We’ve used up fossil fuels on dirty energy… it’s nice to be involved now in cleaning up [our communities],” Rengers said.

Etna is one of three boroughs that make up the Triboro Ecodistrict, an initiative that began in 2012 when Millvale entered the first phases of ecodistrict planning with evolveEA and thus creating the Millvale EcoDistrict Pivot Plan and Pivot Plan 2.0, which focuses on food, water, energy, air quality, mobility, and equity. It was the implementation of this strategy that led to the collaboration with Sharpsburg and Etna.

Sharpsburg Mayor Matt Rudzki’s family has been in the area for five generations, and said these three river town neighborhoods “struggled with identity for a long time.” 

“River town used to be a dirty word and people didn’t want to visit our communities, but now river town is a destination,” Rudzki said. “There have always been great things happening here, and now we have the right people in the right places sending out that message and it’s attracting growth.”

This revitalization comes after decades of depression. In the 1980s when the steel mills closed, many families that lived in the area were forced to move away. Rudzki said that the City of Pittsburgh had “eds and meds that sort of saved them, but Sharpsburg, Millvale, Etna and other river communities didn’t have that saving grace.” 

On the heels of 25 years of disinvestment, Hurricane Ivan hit the Pittsburgh area in 2004 and devastated Millvale, Etna, and Sharpsburg. In the wake of the storm, brothers Scott and Brian Wolovich started recovery efforts that resulted in the creation of New Sun Rising, a nonprofit that has become an educator, resource provider, and activator of neighborhood scale innovation. But it’s first community project was the creation of the Millvale Community Library, the building where the Millvale EcoDistrict plan was born, which evolved into the Triboro Ecodistrict. 

Rudzki credits the rise of new leadership in elected and nonprofit roles to the reinvestment in the area, and to “organizations like the Triboro bringing three distinct but similar groups together that are working for a common goal.” 

Millvale Mayor Brian Spoales has been overwhelmingly supportive of the collaboration between the three communities and the ability to work together to obtain grant funding for similar projects. It’s something that Rudzki thinks the state and Harrisburg appreciate, too, because “instead of picking one community to receive funding, they can send it to all [three neighborhoods]. It’s one of the many reasons why the three boroughs took on the task of jointly updating their Comprehensive Plans and zoning ordinances in 2015 — to create multi-municipal goals and leverage their collective strength.

A common thread, and strength, that these three mayors have seen at Triboro meetings are the number of young and new residents who “are getting involved in anyway they can,” Spoales said.

“I pinch myself sometimes when I see young folks in these meetings,” Rengers said. “I like what they are bringing to the table. It’s a fresh take on some old ideas and it needed freshened up.”

Spoales remembers during the early ecodistrict planning days for Millvale there was a turnout from the younger crowd that knew what the ecodistrict was about and they have continued to show up and participate in the decision making process.

Rengers, Rudzki, and Spoales said that with their communities revivals, they are cognizant of gentrification, but it has been “exciting to see the town move forward as long as [they] can keep it equitable.”

The Triboro raises up resident voice in decision making, prioritizing the care for those most vulnerable, and working on housing issues. To date, over $200,000 has been invested into the Triboro Healthy Homes program, which has assisted 10 existing residents by increasing home safety and energy efficiency. Upcoming housing projects include additional Healthy Homes programs, solar panel installation, and the growing property ownership for residents like the project at 1141 North Avenue in Millvale (left).

Though the culture of these river towns has changed over the years, it has been redefined by the residents as a collective of culture, sustainability, and opportunity; or vibrant communities, if you will.

In June, Etna broke ground on its Riverfront Park and Trail that will feature a grandstand and scenic overlook, a blue water wall, and rainwater infiltration. It will also create a link for the Three Rivers Heritage Trail and the Pittsburgh to Erie Trail.

This past April, the Breathe Easy Millvale Air Quality Plan, which launch in 2016, won a national award and a key component of that plan turned the solar powered Millvale Community Library into a Clean Air Hub. Including healthy indoor air quality practices, there is also a live Air Quality Dashboard displayed in the library window that is increasing awareness about “local and regional air quality by displaying real-time data from outdoor sensors,” per evolveEAs website.

Last year, Sharpsburg installed solar panels on its library and in turn with gaining energy self-sufficiency, it is used as an educational tool for community members to get familiar with solar and become encouraged to try the panels on their own homes. There are also two community members, along with a couple each from Etna and Millvale, that are participating in the Triboro Air Quality Monitoring Cohort with ROCIS.