Preserving the Past and the Future

By Emily Clinch

At the Philadelphia Print Shop, you can buy antique maps and prints. But the store's proprietors are not just concerned with the past. In fact, the Chestnut Hill store is one of the Philadelphia area's most forward-thinking businesses. Looking at long-term consequences of their actions, the print shop began to operate entirely on wind power.

Founder Chris Lane explained the logic behind the decision. "We just decided that, as a social thing, it's important for businesses to look toward preserving our environment and our way of life."

The Philadelphia Print Shop made the decision to switch to wind energy after learning about its benefits from the Pennsylvania Wind Campaign, a project of the Clean Air Council. The campaign has helped a number of organizations purchase wind power, including architecture firm Meyer Associates and Juniata, Allegheny and Swarthmore Colleges.

A single 1.5 MW turbine can produce enough power to save 1 million pounds of coal (which currently provides 60% of Pennsylvania's yearly electricity). It will also prevent the release of more than 4 million pounds of carbon dioxide, 36,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide, and 11,000 pounds of nitrous oxide. Building and operating a single turbine will have the same environmental benefit of planting 300,000 trees. Wind power generates no waste products and has no emissions — especially important in Pennsylvania, the nation's third-largest emitter of carbon dioxide.

Wind power is a little more expensive than other forms of electricity. Lane estimates that, for his business, he spends an additional $60 per month. However, "that's a fairly small contribution to something that will really help in the long run." Rather than an expense, Lane sees the costs "as a long-term investment."

If current plans go well, by 2010 10% of Pennsylvania's power will come from wind farms. Already the east coast-leader in wind power, the state has plans to install turbines to produce more than 170MW over the course of the next two years. In total, wind will power 53,000 households. Nationwide, wind power currently provides only 1% of the total energy consumed.

As of August, there were 26 turbines operating in Pennsylvania. 60 more were proposed, and another 117 are still in the planning stages. The largest current wind facility, the Community Energy/Exelon Power Team wind farm of 10 turbines, is in Mill Run, Fayette County. Larger wind farms are in the works, however, with one on the way with as many as 40 turbines near Scranton.

For Chris Lane and others at the Philadelphia Print Shop, the quick growth in wind power is welcome news. With their business comes a concern with the very, very old, but also with the very new. "We're very concerned with history and we're very concerned with preservation of history, and preserving the environment is roughly the same thing in reverse. It's preserving our future."

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