Remodeling Sustainably in Philadelphia
Last Updated: Mar 28, 2025At the time of the American Revolution some 240 years ago, Philadelphia was the most important American city and the place where the Declaration of Independence was originally signed. Today, the city of Philadelphia once again is taking up leadership in our country’s transition towards a more sustainable and environmentally friendly future.
Recently, Philadelphia mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement that “climate change is real, and it’s already affecting Philadelphians. Philadelphia will continue to identify and implement strategies to cut carbon pollution and protect our most vulnerable residents from the changing climate.” While not a lot is happening at the national level politics to curb climate change and reduce our collective carbon footprint, major US cities continue to lead the way towards a post-carbon future. Below, we look at some of the most impressive far-reaching sustainability goals of the city of Philadelphia, its progressive framework for sustainable housing and energy efficiency, and then offer some suggestions for some home remodelers in the city of Brotherly Love.
Philadelphia’s Sustainability Goals
The cornerstone of Philadelphia’s sustainability policies centers on the clean energy vision that was recently published and released by the city government. Titled “Powering Our Future: A Clean Energy Vision for Philadelphia”, this document sets forth a conclusive roadmap to help the city reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent in the next 30 years. Unlike other city plans, the Philadelphia government has included a wide range of both short term and long term goals and a comprehensive list of best sustainability practices for individuals, businesses, and organizations.
Table of Contents
- What Does This Mean for Philadelphia Homeowners?
- Home Remodelers to Get Started
In the short term, the city hopes to cut citywide carbon pollution by 25 percent by 2025 from 2006 levels. The city will begin that goal by focusing efforts on reducing the carbon pollution from the City-owned buildings and streetlights by 50 percent in the next decade.
The plan is broken into five focus areas, which include:
- Clean electricity supply
- Citywide solar
- Energy-efficient homes and businesses
- Low-carbon thermal energy
- Low-carbon economy
The clean electricity supply and citywide solar focus areas specifically center on transitioning the city towards carbon-zero energy sources. Within the next thirty years, the power plants that provide energy to the city will be entirely composed of carbon-free, renewable sources of clean energy alternatives. The city will continue to urge its residents to install rooftop solar panels to improve air quality in the city while simultaneously reducing the carbon footprint of the homes we live in.
Most importantly, the city believes that this sustainability agenda will also yield significant economic benefits. Not only will the city invest in clean energy systems in every zip code across the city (thus ensuring equitable access to clean energy solutions for citizens from all income brackets), but it also hopes to lower energy bills for the 33 percent of Philadelphians struggling to pay bills. This transition to a low carbon economy is well poised to open up several family-supporting clean energy job opportunities while also spurring future economic growth.
What Does This Mean for Philadelphia Homeowners?
Over 79 percent of current greenhouse gas emissions in Philadelphia come from the over 600,000 buildings (both residential and commercial) and the electricity used to power those buildings. For this reason, one of the most essential elements of the “Powering our Future” clean energy vision is focused on incentivizing energy-efficient homes and businesses across the city.
The Energy Efficient Homes and Business focus of the report is dedicated to eliminating the energy wasted in homes to save homeowners money, improve indoor air quality, and reduce reliance on fossil fuel-generated energy. Similarly, the low-carbon thermal energy focus is an effort to reduce home heating dependence on oil and gas furnaces. Specifically, the city plans to incentivize homeowners and businesses that make the switch to more energy-efficient heating alternatives, including emerging technologies such as microgrids, high-efficiency electric heat pumps, fuel cells, geothermal and solar heating systems, and renewable biogas for home and hot water heating.
Tobias Roberts
Tobias runs an agroecology farm and a natural building collective in the mountains of El Salvador. He specializes in earthen construction methods and uses permaculture design methods to integrate structures into the sustainability of the landscape.
