Some are expecting the cleantech graveyard of startups to start filling up, particularly in the second quarter of 2012. But how companies wind down, sell off their assets, or morph into new much slimmer versions of their former selves, is a personal choice for the companies and investors. Here’s 10 ways you can do it:10 ways to wind down your green startup
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by George H. Miller, FAIA
For the last decade, green building rating systems have been the top standard for designing sustainable buildings, but at the end of the day, they are non-enforceable guidelines. Because buildings are the largest contributors of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, it's become clear in recent years that a more rigorous and complete set of rules are needed for green and sustainable building. The work needed to formalize a code to address sustainability has been a major industry challenge - that is, until now.
A new proposal - currently being developed by the International Code Council (ICC) with involvement from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and a group of partner organizations - called the International Green Construction Code (IGCC) could bring the required sea change to the design and construction industry when it comes to sustainable design. The code, which will provide a set of rules and policies by which buildings and their designs must abide, is the first actionable step in making "going green" a requirement and not simply an owner's choice. The AIA is spearheading the effort as part of its mission to help architects take an active role in lowering the nation's overall energy consumption.
Nicknamed the "Green Code," the IGCC, which has been endorsed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, mandates that a building achieve specific and strict sustainable design goals, set by states or municipalities as well as offering options for design of additional measures toward higher levels of performance. This is the first time in the architectural profession that a group has taken on the challenge of codifying the concept of sustainable design. While previous systems were a great start, the groups involved in the Green Code believe that this codification will finally combine the expertise required for green building with model building codes for safety and health.
As with any change, however, there are challenges which the AIA believes can - and will - be overcome over time. The most important of these challenges is the fact that, as opposed to other sustainability systems, the IGCC code will be enforceable - meaning code violations could be issued by a governing body for failure to comply.
This issue is at the heart of AIA's current work on the code and will be discussed at length over the coming months to ensure that the profession understands the new requirements and is ready to apply them. Though the change will be significant for architects that haven't yet worked on sustainable design projects, ultimately, the AIA believes the Green Code will make the role of the profession in design and construction stronger.
To help educate the architectural profession and prepare for the changes, the AIA has taken an especially large role in spearheading these efforts, educating professionals about the process of code writing and making sure that comments, concerns and ideas are shared with the policy drafters. The AIA is actively and aggressively asking its members to participate to ensure that their voices are heard by participating in code development. The second code development round is currently just beginning for the second public version (PV 2.0). This new version includes changes heard at public hearings on hundreds of proposed changes involving hundreds of interested parties - not just architects - such as building product manufacturers and building owners to ensure a 360-degree perspective. The deadline for submitting changes is January 3, 2011, after which a code development hearing will take place in Dallas in May 2011. Final comments on the proposed changes are due August 12, 2011, and public hearings will take place in Phoenix, November 2-6, 2011 with the expectation that the new code will be finalized and published by March 2012. AIA staff and members will be active participants at these code hearings, testifying on behalf of the code changes submitted by AIA members as well as commenting on the hundreds of other proposals that will be submitted by other stakeholders in the code development process.
The AIA sees this code as perhaps the biggest practice development to hit the profession in the last 50 years. This is why the AIA is encouraging all those with a stake in the codes to become involved in the discussion and crafting of policy, to ensure their views and ideas are heard. In the fight against climate change, the loudest and most influential voices may just come from architects.
George H. Miller is president of the American Institute of Architects.
International Green Construction Code: Game-Changer in Sustainable Building
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The Radar: Green Your Flight, Checking-In, Choose the Best Seat
by John Carey
While the collapse of climate legislation in Congress was a setback for some green businesses, many others are moving ahead with projects to develop renewable energy. One major reason: The clean-tech sector is rapidly growing worldwide, and U.S. companies don't want to be left behind.
With the death of climate legislation in the U.S. Congress, Frank Alix's job has become a lot tougher. Alix is co-founder and CEO of Powerspan, a New Hampshire-based company that says it has developed a technology for snaring carbon dioxide from power plants. Earlier this year, Alix had been optimistic that Congress would pass a climate bill, offering incentives for carbon capture and storage (CCS) and putting a price tag on emitting carbon. That would have caused a dozen utilities to install Powerspan's equipment, he figured.
"We as a company and as a group of investors bet that the U.S. might provide leadership," he says.
That didn't happen under a Congress controlled by Democrats, and now that the Republican Party has taken control of the House of Representatives, it appears to be a virtual impossibility. There's widespread agreement in Washington that climate legislation is completely off the table until at least the 2012 election, if then. And Alix's projected market in the U.S. has evaporated. "Without a price on carbon, these projects will cost hundreds of millions of dollars and no one will do them," he says.
Yet this isn't a simple story of a company or an industry defeated by Washington's inaction. Alix's Plan A - a booming U.S. market - may be quashed. But he's got a Plan B and a Plan C: Europe and China. "There are more opportunities there than you would think," he says. "We'll figure it out. I just feel this technology is too important to the industry and to the world."
This mix of disappointment and hope is a common refrain among the business supporters of a climate bill. "The lack of legislation is important, but companies are probably not changing the direction they're headed in," explains Linda Fisher, chief sustainability officer at Dupont, which sees growing markets for lightweight plastics for cars, solar panel materials, biofuels, and other Dupont products. "We are not pausing on our growth opportunities."
The opportunities aren't as great as they would have been with a bill, of course. For utilities, the lack of a sure price on carbon emissions is slowing plans to build big solar arrays and nuclear power plants, and is accelerating a race to natural gas, as some coal plants are being shut due to coming stricter pollution rules.
"We will be making a huge bet on one fuel [natural gas], which is never a good idea," says Michael Morris, CEO of giant Ohio-based American Electric Power. And the U.S. economy could suffer as hundreds of companies like Powerspan look elsewhere for investment and markets - and as innovation shifts to other countries.
"This is not just about the price on carbon, this is about who will own the industries of the future," warns Ron Pernick, co-founder and managing director of Clean Edge, a clean-tech research firm.
But the idea that the demise of climate legislation has crippled the U.S. clean-tech industry is a myth. Venture capital investment in clean energy hit a post-financial crisis high in the second quarter of 2010, reports Bloomberg New Energy Finance. And the percentage of all venture capital flowing into clean-tech in the U.S. hit a new record of 12.5 percent, according to Clean Edge.
"I think people have convinced the media that clean-tech is delayed or tied to the price of carbon," says Jigar Shah, founder of solar pioneer SunEdison and now CEO of the Carbon War Room. "It's not. I don't think the pace is changing."
Silicon Valley-based ENXSuite, for example, has discovered demand for its energy- and carbon-tracking software has increased since the legislation died. The reason: Companies were holding back because of uncertainty over whether or not the bill would pass, says founder and CTO Michael Meehan. A price on carbon was part of his original business plan, Meehan adds, but carbon is now such a politically charged word in the U.S. that the company changed its business model and even its name - from Carbonnetworks to ENXSuite.
And Fremont, Calif.-based GlassPoint Solar has successfully raised money for a demonstration of its solar steam generators for use in enhanced oil recovery. The company knows that the system must be able to compete with natural gas-generated steam without a price on carbon, says John O'Donnell, GlassPoint's vice president of business development. "Right now, none of our customers is making investment decisions that include carbon risks," he says.
How has clean-tech been able to survive, or even thrive? One reason is the faith and passion of individual entrepreneurs, says Shah: "What people don't understand is that to bet your family's entire net worth to start a company takes extraordinary optimism. Even after Copenhagen and the climate bill, people are just bullish about their ideas - and something like the lack of a carbon price looks like just another barrier to leap over."
Another reason is that, even without limits on carbon, other polices and market forces are fueling the development and adoption of lower-emitting technologies. A new report from GTM Research predicts, for instance, that the market for technologies to make the electricity grid "smarter" will grow by more than 70 percent, from $5.6 billion in 2010 to $9.6 billion by 2015. The drivers of the move toward a smart grid are savings from efficiency gains and plentiful dollars from the U.S. government, explains GTM Research smart grid analyst David Leeds: "Thankfully, we have enough federal funding over the next five years."
Or drop in on ALTe in Auburn Hills, Mich., which has been quietly developing a plug-in gas-electric powertrain for shuttle buses, pickup trucks, and other vehicles. The vehicles are propelled by an electric motor, and an on-board gasoline engine kicks in to recharge the batteries after 40 to 50 miles. While the company has already snared its first order, for 3,000 powertrains, it expects major boosts from a U.S. Energy Department loan and from government procurement rules that mandate purchases of a certain percentage of "green" vehicles. It expects to ramp up to 90,000 units a year, providing a key market for the advanced battery factories also springing up in Michigan.
"We would love climate legislation, but we feel we can sell out our factory for years," says CEO John Thomas, a veteran of Ford, GM, and Tesla Motors.
Federal and state support also underlies plans by Abengoa Solar to build 280-megawatt solar thermal plants in Arizona and California. Effects of the death of the climate bill? Because the company has already signed a power purchase agreement for the electricity from the plants, there are no effects on these projects "except for feeling a little glum about politics," says Abengoa senior advisor Fred Morse. And the mere fact that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is requiring carbon emissions to be reported is speeding companies' efforts to reduce those emissions, says Dupont's Fisher.
The final reason is that the business world generally believes that limits on carbon, or other policies to promote energy efficiency and renewable power, are inevitable. The EPA is moving ahead with plans to regulate carbon dioxide emissions under the Clean Air Act, for instance.
"We will also see legislation in the new Congress," predicts John Cohen, vice president of government affairs at Alstom, a French-based multinational that makes everything from more efficient coal boilers and steam turbines to carbon capture equipment. "It won't be economy-wide cap and trade, but it will have energy provisions that will continue the inexorable advance to a clean energy economy," he says. That's why Alstom is sticking to its long-term strategy of betting on lower-carbon technologies.
But even as companies remain bullish on clean-tech, there's a powerful sense of regret among environmentally-oriented companies over the additional progress that could have been made if only Washington had passed a climate bill. With a rising price per ton of CO2, far more big solar plants would have begun to be built, says Abengoa's Morse. "You'd see a shift out of fossil fuel into renewables," he says.
Dupont's Fisher argues that what's really needed is a transformation of the economy, a complete change in how we produce and use energy. EPA regulations might make a dent in carbon emissions, she says, but they won't stimulate the innovation needed for such a transformation. A price on fossil fuels would. "I reflect on how fast the market started to change when gasoline hit $5 per gallon," she says.
And executives say that the longer the U.S. dithers, the farther behind it will fall.
"Once again, we are not making the investments today to get ahead of the ultimate game, which is a combination of energy efficiency, renewables and nuclear," says Ralph Izzo, CEO of New Jersey-based utility PSEG. Absent a price on carbon, PSEG has slowed down its plans for a new nuclear plant, for example, but other nations haven't. "I think 50 nuclear plants are being built around the world, and only one in the U.S.," says Izzo. Already, China leads the world in manufacturing solar panels.
So while clean-tech isn't going to wither away because of inaction in Washington, a huge opportunity to stimulate more innovation and growth is being lost, executives believe. Says Alstom's Cohen: "Our message is: This is urgent. We need to get on with it now."
Photo by Chrishna/flickr/Creative Commons
Reprinted with permission from Yale Environment 360
Boston-based noprofit New Generation Energy (NGE) has launched a website (http://newgenerationenergy.org/list-projects) to facilitate microfunding for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects being undertaken by other nonprofits.
The Green Energy Project Microfunding site makes it simple for individuals to learn about and support specific green energy projects at organizations all across the U.S.
The site is similar to other microfinance sites that allow for green investment, but support is in the form of a donation rather than a loan, and emphasis is placed on project metrics such as energy savings and green house gas emissions reduction. Any nonprofit organization may apply to be listed on the site. This includes family shelters, community centers, schools, universities, churches, and more.
All projects must be located in the United States, and all applying nonprofit organizations must be US-based.
"A web-based microfunding site dedicated to green energy projects has been needed for a long, long time," said NGE's Executive Director, Chuck Lewin. "Now that New Generation Energy has developed the microfunding site, nonprofits can get funding for their green energy projects, educate the public about their sustainability efforts, and illustrate real world, practical applications of green energy technology."
The site has value not only as a source of funding for green energy projects, but a project posting can also serve as a 'billboard' for an organization's efforts to become greener. Using the site, organizations can include pictures, video links, quotes from staff, and other materials to promote the organization and help drive donations to support the project.
New Generation Energy says its mission is to make America's communities healthier and more sustainable through the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. NGE supports solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal, along with many different kinds of energy efficiency.
Photo by Joe Shlabotnik/flickr/Creative Commons
Reprinted with permission from Sustainable Business
Britain's new government is proposing radically new energy policies, with a "Green Deal" that would retrofit the country's woefully energy-inefficient housing stock. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, UK Energy and Climate Minister Greg Barker talks about why an overhaul of the approach to energy is essential for the nation's future.
Britain's new ruling coalition knows it faces a formidable task if it is to fulfill its pledge of being "the greenest government ever." But Greg Barker, the UK's new Energy and Climate Change Minister, says that even in the face of budget cuts and fiscal austerity, he is optimistic about what the coalition can do to put Britain on course to meet its goal of cutting carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
Barker, 44, a former PR executive and Conservative member of Parliament, is promoting the government's plan for a so-called new Green Deal, a program aimed at retrofitting Britain's notoriously energy-wasteful homes with efficiency improvements, with no upfront cost to homeowners. "We have one of the lowest energy-efficiency ratings in Europe," he says, "and that's something that's simply not acceptable."
In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Barker discussed how the Green Deal would work, the role of offshore wind and other renewables in Britain's future, the need for new nuclear plants in the UK, and the government's plan for a green investment bank that would help finance new low-carbon technology. "We think that there is a clear commercial advantage for the UK in being an early mover in the drive to a clean economy," he said.
Yale Environment 360: Your government is now promoting a new Green Deal. Can you explain how that would work, and specifically when it comes to homeowners, how it will enable them to make major energy-efficiency improvements without sustaining unaffordable costs?
Greg Barker: Well, I think it's important first to put it in context. The new coalition government elected in May of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats really comes together at its strongest on the green agenda. And the new prime minister, David Cameron, within days of taking office, committed to being the greenest government ever. What does that mean? Well, really that means going beyond the rhetoric of the Blair years and actually coming up with some really clear policies for delivering transformation to a low-carbon economy during the next decade.
One of our flagship policies is the Green Deal. And that recognizes that the UK has been lacking far too long in energy efficiency, both in the business sector and also critically in the domestic sector. We have one of the lowest energy-efficiency ratings of any country in Europe, and that's something that's simply not acceptable. So there's a lot to do. And therefore, what we need is a real game-changer, a complete step-change in the scale of investment in energy efficiency. Historically, most programs for energy efficiency have been driven by annually capped grants from central government to particular programs. And while in themselves they've been worthwhile, relative to the scale of the challenge and the 26 million homes that we have to transform, we've been making very slow progress.
e360: So what is the coalition government proposing?
Barker: What we're going to do is go away from the stop-go, government-funded programs, and through using smart regulation, open up this market to the private sector. We believe we can create a market that will bring in billions of pounds of investment into energy efficiency for homes and businesses. We're going to create a mechanism whereby the cost of making these [energy-efficiency] measures can all be financed through pay-as-you-save models, with the finance being repaid over a period of 20 years through the bill on each individual property. Now, that's a big change. To date it had to be paid upfront, either by the individual homeowner or through a grant. By pinning the repayments to the bill of the property, it means it's not a debt. It's not even a mortgage. It doesn't need to be credit-scored, because if the individual living in that particular home moves, dies, ownership changes, or they cease to rent, it stays on the bill of that property, just like the conventional energy bill.
But there's one golden rule: The cost of financing the measures, which would be anything up to 6,000 pounds, must always be less than the savings anticipated from the installations [of energy-efficiency measures].
e360: Who will pay the upfront costs?
Barker: The upfront cost will be paid for by private sector finance. Now, in some cases, those companies with a big balance sheet may wish to finance it themselves on their own balance sheet. Others, and I think it will probably be the majority, will team up with banks and commercial finance houses as a partnership.
So far as the consumer is concerned, there's no upfront cost at all. As far as the homeowner is concerned, all they have to do is have an energy audit for their home. That independent audit will say this home qualifies for the following measures, and providing that they meet the payback rule, then those measures will be installed and be financed through the property's energy bill over 20 years. Again, the golden rule: Savings will be always bigger than the financing costs, which means that not only will people end up with new improvements to their property or the property that they rent, but actually they'll see lower bills immediately as well.
e360: You mentioned that your new government is making a total change and a new approach to energy issues. Just recently, the largest wind farm in the world opened just off the coast of Britain, and yet the vast majority of the contracts for that project actually went to non-UK companies.
Barker: Absolutely. And only 20 percent of the supply chain on this largest wind farm in the world has been met from the UK. We've got to change all that. That's Labor's legacy to the coalition. We've got to make the UK not just a great place to deploy these new technologies, particularly offshore wind, but we've actually got to make it a great place to manufacture the capability that we're going to deploy. So we, the new government, have an ambitious vision to create the necessary supply chain. And that means attracting in new participants, attracting new investment into the UK, making sure we have an optimum business condition. That's why despite the fiscal situation we're bringing down the corporation tax, why we're streamlining planning measures, and why we're looking to reform the system for support of offshore wind to make sure that it's extremely competitive internationally.
e360: You've also talked about creating a green investment bank. How would that work, and would that be part of the funding projects in industries like this?
Barker: Yes. The green investment bank is critical to our vision for a low-carbon economy. We see it not as supporting or subsidizing non-commercial projects, but as being key to catalyzing and leveraging greater amounts of private-sector finance, often helping just alter the risk profile or give greater certainty to projects where there's a strong public-sector interest.
There are three things to business, which we think are absolutely essential ingredients for long-term success of the transition to a low-carbon economy. We think business needs these three things in government policy: transparency, longevity, and certainty - TLC, if you like. And too often in the past, the short-term measures have been tinkering with policy, which has sent confused and mixed messages to the investment community. What we need to see is actually fewer interventions in the market. But when we do intervene, we need to do so in a very robust fashion that is transparent, clear, and gives real long-term certainty to business.
e360: Would this green investment bank be set up with a combination of private and public funds?
Barker: We're currently looking at the various models. Three government departments - my own Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Department of Business Innovation and Skills, and, of course, the Treasury - are currently looking at various models, and we'll be making further announcements soon. We are determined to come out on the ambitious end of the spectrum, but I also think that the institution that emerges won't be fully cooked on day one. We want to create something that is sustainable, that commands the confidence of the markets, but is also capable of growing and expanding its role as it develops a track record of success.
e360: How will austerity and the budget cuts that the government is making - how is that affecting the ambition of what you're trying to do and the scope of it?
Barker: Well, of course, it's tough. We the new government inherited a very difficult situation. The last Labor government doubled the national debt and left us the highest deficit in the G20. But we are taking prompt action to turn that around and to transform public finances. Unless the market's going to have confidence in the public finances, unless the economy is on a sound fiscal footing, then no sector can grow over the long term. So we see returning the public finances to a sound state of affairs an absolute priority across the board. Obviously that does mean that some tough choices have to be made, but the low-carbon transition and investment is absolutely vital to our recovery, and we are determined that we will endeavor to protect the core public investment in that.
e360: I'm interested in what you see as the role of nuclear in Britain's energy future. I know a number of plants are set to expire in the next decade. Do you favor more nuclear plants being built in Britain, and if so, how will they be funded?
Barker: Well, a diverse energy mix is absolutely vital to the UK's future. That means a strong role for renewable. But it also means other sources of clean energy like nuclear must be part of the mix. Now, we do see new nuclear as being part of that mix, an important part of that mix. But that doesn't mean to say that there's going to be public subsidy for nuclear, and that's the important differentiating point... We are confident that the private sector can come forth with viable projects for a new fleet of nuclear reactors that are safe and commercially viable.
e360: Do you see the switch to renewables as important for Britain's overall economic recovery and future growth?
Barker: Absolutely. We think that there is a clear commercial advantage for the UK in being an early mover in the drive to a clean economy. We think that gaining competitive advantage in these growing industries such as offshore wind and other renewables will actually provide thousands of jobs in the future, will create an added value economy. And we are committed to making sure that the UK isn't just a great place to deploy renewables, but that we actually we capture a lot of that R & D that's going on in our universities and in the research houses of our leading companies.
Photo by Terry Grealey/flickr/Creative Commons
Reprinted with permission from Yale Environment 360
Philadelphia, PA, October 29, 2010 -
Azavea (formerly Avencia), an award-winning Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software design and development firm, announces the launch of PhillyStormwater.org, a public web Stormwater Billing application (http://PhillyStormwater.org/) for the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD). The application supports the City of Philadelphia’s new parcel-based stormwater billing program.
On July 1, 2010, the City of Philadelphia flipped the switch on a new approach to assessing stormwater management fees that has been under development for over 15 years. As a consequence, a new billing system is now in place. Under the new billing methodology, which will gradually be phased in over the next 3 years, non-residential property owners will be charged for stormwater based on the total area of their property and the amount of impervious surfaces on their property, rather than being based on the amount of water they use. The Phillystormwater.org system, developed by Azavea, enables property owners to understand how PWD calculates their new stormwater charges, detailing how each component of the stormwater charge was calculated, how it will be phased in over time, and what steps the property owner can take to reduce their charges through a credits program for each onsite water management practice they decide to implement. The application enables property owners to visualize their property in a high resolution aerial photography and display the following data:
Customers who want to dispute the gross area or impervious area of their parcel can submit appeals, which are researched and in turn, managed by the PDW staff members through the PhillyStormwater.org application.
Why is the City of Philadelphia’s new stormwater management program such a significant move and why can it be qualified as “green”? As a city grows and its open spaces are covered with concrete, asphalt and rooftops, stormwater that might have once been naturally filtered and absorbed by vegetation and soil is collected by the municipal stormwater system. In many older cities, the stormwater and the sanitary sewer are combined into a single system. When there is a storm event, the system outstrips the filtering capacity and the extra runoff overflows into the rivers, creating significant environmental and health impacts. The more impervious surface -- parking lots, sidewalks and roofs – the more rapidly and frequently the runoff will result in a combined sewer overflow (CSO) event. Most municipalities remediate this issue by building more and larger infrastructure, but for a city the age and size of Philadelphia, this would carry a very large price tag. The Philadelphia Water Department has decided to implement a billing system that aims to encourage property owners to use onsite green management practices such as retention basins, trees, green roofs and porous pavement in order to both reduce the amount of impervious pavement and use soil and vegetation to filter the water. They hope this new approach will be more environmentally-friendly, lower cost, and easier to manage. In addition, PWD has also created a program of credits that incentivize owners to retrofit their properties with onsite stormwater management practices, thus reducing their stormwater fees.
Philadelphia’s approach is not unique -- Portland, Oregon has implemented a similar sustainable stormwater management system -- but Philadelphia’s program is the largest and most ambitious green stormwater management program in the country. By 2029, PWD plans to replace at least one third of the City's impervious surfaces with green stormwater infrastructure. Already a national leader in the design and construction of green roofs and other urban sustainability practices, the new program is part of Philadelphia’s Greenworks Program, an ambitious plan to transform Philadelphia into the greenest city in the U.S. By committing the city to managing stormwater with green infrastructure, PWD also aims to increase recreational opportunities, provide jobs, and improve air quality.
“As a B Corporation, we seek out projects that use GIS technology to deliver both new services and social value. Azavea does work all over the United States, but it’s thrilling when we can make a contribution to a project in our hometown, Philadelphia, that is setting the standard for innovative ways to better manage our ecosystem,” says Robert Cheetham, Azavea President and CEO.
Representatives of Azavea and the PWD will be presenting PhillyStormwater.org at the next American Water Resources Association (AWRA) conference in Philadelphia from Nov.1 – Nov.4
About Azavea
Azavea is an award-winning geospatial analysis (GIS) software development firm specializing in the creation of location-based web and mobile solutions, as well as geospatial analysis services to enhance decision-making. Azavea is committed to working on projects with a strong social value component in order to promote the emergence of more dynamic, vibrant, and sustainable communities. Each of Azavea’s projects, products and pro bono engagements showcases this commitment. Azavea is a certified B Corporation. For more information, visit www.azavea.com
If you would like more information about Azavea or to schedule an interview with Robert Cheetham, Azavea’s CEO and President, please contact Abby Fretz at (215) 701 – 7503 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
About the Philadelphia Water Department and Water Department Bureau
The Philadelphia Water Department and Water Revenue Bureau serve the Greater Philadelphia region by providing integrated water, wastewater, and stormwater services. The utility's primary mission is to plan for, operate, and maintain both the infrastructure and the organization necessary to purvey high quality drinking water, to provide an adequate and reliable water supply for all household, commercial, and community needs, and to sustain and enhance the region's watersheds and quality of life by managing wastewater and stormwater effectively. For more information, visit http://www.phila.gov/water/
