Pittsburgh Home to Harness Sunlight

Philly dot ComPITTSBURGH - When Michael Merck's Pennsylvania remodeling crew is finished, sunlight that once streamed through dusty cracks in a vacant East Liberty home will strike a solar panel array capable of generating enough energy to support a family of five.At least, that's the goal the owner of West Penn Energy Solutions set for himself in a novel bid to transform a deteriorating 100-year-old shell of a house into a Zero Energy Home , a "green" living space that produces as much energy as its occupants consume in a year."We want to show that we can take this great example of Pittsburgh housing stock and convert it into something as energy efficient or more energy efficient than what people are building new," said Merck, 32, of Regent Square.Work began in March on the North St. Clair...

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Hershey Modernizes, Tells Workers to Hit the Highway

Forbes Hershey said late Monday it is planning $250 million to $350 million in capital investments to improve and expand its facilities, while at the same time cutting 500 to 600 jobs as part of its overhaul.Hershey said it will expand its West Hershey facility to takeover production from its 100-year-old plant at 19 East Chocolate Avenue. The job cuts will be the result of improved efficiency in production. Hershey will also make improvements at an administrative and distribution facility in Hershey.Hershey said the project, which it calls its Next Century program, will incur charges of $140 million to $170 million over the next three years.As...

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State Submits Plan for High-Risk Health Insurance Pool

Philadelphia Inquirer Pennsylvania's Insurance Department announced Wednesday that it had submitted a plan to achieve one of the provisions of the new national health-overhaul legislation: creation of a special insurance program for people who can't buy insurance because they're already sick.People with preexisting conditions such as heart disease, cancer, or major mental illness would be able to buy into the proposed high-risk insurance pool for about what healthy people would pay, up to $5,616 a year.The problem is that those payments, plus $160 million in federal funding through 2013, can provide insurance for only about 5,100 people...

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Shale-Gas Producers Obey New Pennsylvania Rules Early

Bloomberg / Business Week Shale-gas producers told Pennsylvania regulators most of them are already complying with new regulations for protecting aquifers that aren’t scheduled to be adopted until October.Thirty-five shale-gas producers, members of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, also agreed today to work with the state to develop better tests, record-keeping and drilling procedures to prevent methane gas from contaminating groundwater.“We want a world-class regulatory environment and a world- class industry environment in Pennsylvania, since we have a huge opportunity in front of us,” Ray Walker, chairman of the coalition and a senior vice...

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