Economic
Recovery Funding Will Energize Bucks County Research Park
Capstone Turbine Corporation
June 26, 2009
BRISTOL TOWNSHIP – Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection Secretary John Hanger today toured The Bridge
Business Center in Bristol Township, Bucks County, where
$1 million in federal recovery funds are being used to install
a modern energy system in a former Rohm & Haas laboratory.
Secretary Hanger witnessed a milestone in the project’s
development, as seven micro-turbines were lifted by crane
and placed on the roof of a building at 360 George Patterson
Blvd., where renovations are underway in the 50,000-square-foot,
multi-tenant facility.
“This is how recovery funds are making a real difference
in people’s lives,” said Hanger. “In a community that has
suffered from an economic downturn, we see this developer
making not only a $4.5 million investment in adaptive reuse
of a building on a designated brownfield site, but also
in providing a clean, affordable and reliable source of
energy for its tenants.”
In March, Governor Edward G. Rendell announced the $1 million
Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority grant to the Keystone
Redevelopment Group to install an energy system that uses
gas-fired micro-turbines. This project is one of the first
in the state to receive funding through the federal American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Through the installation of this system, total savings on
energy costs over a 10-year period are expected to equal
approximately $2 million. A significant portion of that
savings – as much as $150,000 a year – will come from the
sale of energy back to PECO. This system will reduce CO2
emissions by roughly 3 million pounds per year, the equivalent
of removing 318 average sized passenger cars off the road.
The retrofitting of 360 George Patterson Blvd., the design
and installation of its sustainable energy system, and employment
by its tenants are expected to result in the creation of
100 high-wage jobs.
“Chemical research and development is an energyintensive
business,” Hanger said. The incorporation of this energy
system is expected to make The Bridge Business Center highly
competitive in the life sciences real estate market, and
to attract tenants that will create hundreds of additional
high-wage jobs in the future.”
The Bridge Business Center is located in a Keystone Innovation
Zone. KIZs are established in communities with institutions
of higher education, and are designed to foster innovation
and create entrepreneurial opportunities. More than 600
jobs have been lost in Bristol Township since 2005 as employers
Rohm & Haas and Jones New York downsized.
To learn more about how the federal economic stimulus will
benefit communities across Pennsylvania, visit www.recovery.pa.gov.
Print
or Download PDF
Return to In the News
|
