Going Deep

by Jason Tomassini

environment

The question of who will lead Philadelphia into the environmentally friendly, energy-efficient 21st century might finally have an answer. And, surprisingly enough, the answer is the Quakers.

The Friends Center, a site of Quaker worship since 1856 that also contains offices for a number of nonprofits, received a check last week for more than $500,000 from the state's Department of Environmental Protection. The money will enable it to become the first building in Pennsylvania to install underground geothermal wells for heating and cooling. It's part of a wide-scale renovation at Friends Center that will reduce energy costs by 50 percent and limit carbon emissions, fossil-fuel use and water contamination.

Construction on the wells is expected to start Jan. 7, when six wells, each 6 inches wide, will be dug more than 1,500 feet under the sidewalk on 15th Street between Race and Cherry. The wells draw water from the earth with a consistent temperature of about 55 degrees. In cold months, the water will undergo a heat exchange where the thermal energy will be extracted. In the summer, the heat of the building will be sent to the ground and the cooler temperatures from the earth will circulate throughout the building.

The renovations will be costly, but with rising costs of petroleum, electricity and just about everything else energy-related, Friends Center officials figured the time was right.

"The bottom line is always about dollars and cents, and some people deplore that, but I think it's a good motivator," state Rep. Babette Josephs said at a press conference announcing the initiative. "We are a poor and working-class city and this city absolutely needs to save money on our common, accumulated energy bill. And in doing that I know we will be benefiting the environment."

The Friends Center already has some solar panels and recently added a vegetated roof to help with the heating and cooling. Further renovations will use an open design to maximize sunlight and include a built-in mechanism that dims lighting fixtures as more sunlight reaches the building. There will also be a new landscaping design and runoff system that will keep storm water on site, either letting it back into the ground or reusing it to flush toilets.