Crowdsourced Data Mapping Tool Reveals Elevated Flu-Like Symptoms Across US Geographies, Public Participation Can Help Track The Spread Of COVID-19

Kinsa Smart Thermometer Device Records Anonymous Fever Data In Real Time, Download The Free App - Jersey City, NJ

Submitted by Debra Italiano, Founder & Chair Sustainable JC

The award winning, US public health tech company Kinsa Health has been around for awhile, providing about a million households (2 million consumers) with useful feedback about their health symptoms, through a smart thermometer device.  The device can be used standalone or with a connected free app you can download which provides feedback   

In partnership with Oregon State University, Kinsa Health now publishes a US Health Weather Map which provides a visualization of seasonal illness associated with influenza symptoms, typified by increased fever symptoms. The map has been ahead of the CDC in projecting flu rates each season for years and is used by public health officials to prepare each season.

The data visualized on the Kinsa Health Weather US map shown is the product of the size of the network of Kinsa’s Smart Thermometers and the connected mobile applications.

In these times of COVID-19, given that heightened fever is a primary symptom, this tracks to potential for the virus and is serving as an AN EARLY WARNING SYSTEM for public health officials, municipal decisionmakers and first responders seeking information about where the COVID-19 virus might be spreading based on real time reported public health data. 

While widespread testing in the US is still not available for COVID-19 and must be managed judiciously due to supply issues, this complementary data tool can activate quick response measures and act as a very worthwhile surveillance reporting device that people fighting to contain the spread of COVID-19 desperately need. Dr. Peter J. Hotez, Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said: “If this tells you where there are new major clusters of fever, it tells you where to swoop in with your test kits.”

As anticipation of opening up the economy prompts planning about the need for an extensive infrastructure of testing, containment and surveillance measures, and given this will be quite the feat to accomplish, (time, money, complexity), this very low cost form of public health surveillance (anonymous) can be deployed quickly and easily and can save lives.  Here is how the Kinsa FLUency program is operating in a Michigan school district   Parents active in the JC school district please suggest that we use the device and app to the JC School Board ! 

The data visualized on the Kinsa Health Weather US map shown is the product of the size of the network of Kinsa’s Smart Thermometers and the connected mobile applications.  The map has been ahead of the CDC in projecting flu rates each season for years and is used by public health officials to prepare each season. The grayed areas on the map, mostly rural areas, are obviously not connected in the aggregated database yet.  As more crowdsourced data comes into the database, the map will change in real time and the projections for each zip code will change. 

Kinsa Health is careful to state that the data they are providing is COMPLIMENTARY, but clearly this very important elevated fever data is quite valuable to note for public health officials and is being used in NYC right now.  For example, the NYTs story broke last month when Kinsa offered what they noticed as a Brooklyn spike in fever readings after winter flu season had begun to downturn.  The unusual readings were used as an alert that something unusual was happening, put the health department on notice, enabling them to mobilize an informed effort to contain a possible infectious cluster from spreading.

SJC is a fan of crowdsourced data programs and have spearheaded a couple of Citizen Science projects where the public was able to jump in and to create a data repository that becomes a helpful decision making tool for good things to happen.  The Kinsa Smart Thermometer is a brilliant example of how we can all assist with crowdsourcing data that will be helpful to officials trying to stay ahead of the curve of this deadly disease. Other countries are now on a regimen of taking their temperature twice daily, it may be time for US citizens to begin to do the same.

The cost is $35.99 on the Kinsa website and they have a BUY 1 DONATE 1 Kinsa Health Commitment program, which gets more thermometers distributed to under-resourced schools, improving their ability to track and contain the pandemic.  Quick video about using the app here.

Community Solar Projects Approved As NJ Seeks to Reduce Carbon In Electricity Generation

Hartz Mountain Group Community Solar Project Approved For Jersey City

Submitted by: Kevin Englert, Sustainable Jersey City Member

Image Caption: In 2019, the top five largest sources of electricity generation in NJ: Natural Gas-Fired 40,589 thousand MWh (53.8%), Nuclear 26,637 thousand MWh (34.9%), Solar photovoltaic 3,419 thousand MWh (4.5%), Non-solar & Non-hydro renewables 2,044 thousand MWh (2.7%), Coal 1,042 thousand MWh (1.4%).

Efforts to decarbonize electricity generation in NJ continue with the approval of 45 community solar projects throughout the state, including 1 in Jersey City. On Dec. 20, 2019, the NJ Board of Public Utilities (BPU) approved these pilot projects under the Community Solar Pilot Program (CSP). All the approved projects have proposed, and must verify, that at least 51% of a project’s total solar capacity will be subscribed by low and moderate income (LMI) households. The program should allow subscribed NJ residents to simultaneously lower their carbon footprint and their electricity bills. 

Residents that live within a project’s set geographic limit, the municipality, county, or utility service area of the project, may subscribe to receive electricity generated by the project’s solar installation. (i.e. subscribers do not have to live near the installation). Subscription changes a customer’s relationship with their electric utility. Instead of paying the utility to both generate and deliver their electricity, a subscriber separately pays the project to generate renewable electricity and the utility to deliver the electricity. Although the subscriber is paying two bills, they receive a credit on the utility bill for the renewable generation, which saves them money overall, potentially up to 10% savings.

Contrary to some claims otherwise, electricity generated by NJ energy providers continues to be very fossil fuel intensive. As reported by the US Department of Energy, 54% of all electricity used in NJ in 2019 was generated by burning natural gas, a fossil fuel. Not only does burning natural gas emit carbon dioxide, but the supply chain of natural gas is unreliable, leaking natural gas, and its main ingredient, methane, into the atmosphere. Recent studies estimate that 2.3% of gross natural gas volume escapes the supply chain during fracking, processing, or transmission. The global warming impact of this leaked atmospheric methane is roughly 84x more potent than that of carbon dioxide over a 20-year span.

As natural gas has replaced coal in NJ electricity generation, at best, we have been running in place from a carbon emissions standpoint. Reversing global warming requires the drastic decrease of carbon emissions, from any greenhouse gas, and a corresponding increase of renewable energy. In 2019, only 7.2% of electricity generated came from renewable sources, mainly solar and wind. Nuclear energy provided 34.9% of electricity, which, when combined with natural gas electricity generation (53.8%) means that 88.7% of all NJ electricity comes from non-renewable sources. 

In its first year, the community solar program will create a total of 75 new megawatts of renewable electricity capacity, offsetting approximately 29 tons of carbon emissions per year, equivalent to the annual output of 11 cars. Per the BPU order, construction on all projects should begin within 6-months of the approval (by June 20, 2020), and projects should be fully operational within 12-months of the approval (by Dec. 20, 2020). Project applications were scored and approved based on a series of weighted criteria including, in order from high to low weight: LMI subscribers, environmental siting, savings and flexible subscriber terms, community and environmental justice, residential subscribers, other (jobs created, co-benefits such as grid storage), and geographic limits (municipality, county, or utility service area). 

Note: The one approved project located in Jersey City was awarded to the Hartz Mountain Group. Sustainable Jersey City was unable to reach Hartz Mountain Group for comment. 

See previous reporting on the Community Solar Pilot Project here.

Get To Know Our SJC Green Drinks +TREES Sponsors – March 5th @ Atlas Gastropub, 6-9pm

We wanted to write a short post with some reference links about our sponsors, so you get to know more about the terrific work they are doing to make Jersey City greener and more resilient.  Some of their work is close to the ground with building projects they are working on locally and some of their work expands to statewide initiatives and development projects in other countries.

The Lively, developed by LMC and located at 321 Warren St in Jersey City, is an 18 story, 180-apartment home community inspired by a love of art and design. This boutique apartment community features refined residences, a dynamic 14,500 square foot multi-arts center for a local non-profit organization, and an unbeatable location in the heart of downtown Jersey City's vibrant Powerhouse Arts District. The building earned the National Green Building Standards (NGBS) Silver green certification for the use of sustainable material, systems, and on-going commitment to sustainability. The Lively is also the first project in the State’s history to electively install a permanent storm water retention system beneath the public right-a-away, which benefits the building and the surrounding community. Furthermore, the Lively includes the following sustainable features: condensing high efficiency gas boiler servicing the entire building, central high efficiency heating system for all common areas, LED high-efficiency lighting, high-efficiency  appliances, intelligent heating system at exterior pool, recyclable insulation, high-efficiency water closets, faucets, and showers, prefinished exterior materials, and intelligent utilities tunneling. LMC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lennar Corporation, is a multifamily real estate development and operating company with diverse portfolio of institutional quality multifamily rental communities across the U.S. Learn more about LMC at www.LiveLMC.com and the Lively at www.theLivelyapartments.com.

JMA Jorge Mastropietro Atelier is both an architectural studio and development company with offices in Hoboken and Buenos Aires Argentina. He has completed a number of JC projects with advanced energy efficiency, materials re-use and green infrastructure elements as the main of his structural designs.  JMA considers every project, big or small, as an opportunity to bring momentum and awareness to the Green Building Movement, and as a step further towards a more ecofriendly society.

Their project at 345 Central Avenue in Jersey City skillfully complemented a 1-story historic building with a 3-story sustainable design structure which integrated natural materials, strategic placement of windows and openings to allow cross ventilation and natural light to permeate all levels, bringing the lower supermarket level and the food growing roof, which now services a business operation and the consumers of the site, into a closed loop system.  They took great pains to conserve additional energy at each level of the building system, including incorporating motion sensors along the common spaces which will greatly reduce wasted energy overtime. The project took maximum advantage of several sustainability aspects achieving JMA’s overall performance goal for the project.   More about the JMA philosophy and approach here

345 Central Avenue

We’re very excited about this upcoming event and the opportunity to bring professionals from all walks, neighbors and artists together.  Sustainability is a cultural conversation and for that to take flight, folks need to meet each other and start talking about What Sustains Us?  Join us on Wednesday evening Dec 4th downtown at LITM, 6-9pm, for some relaxed conversation -  let’s get to know one another 😊

@thelivelyapts  @jorgemastropietroatelier  #SustainableJC  #SJCGreenDrinks+TREES  #Sustainable  #JersecyCity @atlaspublichouse @atlashousenj

Climate Change Solutions Forum Nearby - Join SJC In Elizabeth NJ, Tues Jan 28th 6-8pm

What does Climate-Ready CSO Solutions Mean ?

Submitted by Debra Italiano, SJC Board President

Climate-Ready Solutions Forum - Learn More About Here

For those of us who have been working with the City for some years around flooding, CSO’s and stormwater management issues, we have come down a long road nearing the delivery to the state of Long Term Control Plans by our JC Municipal Utility Authority (JC MUA) and 21 other NJ Cities on how they are going to address these issues and attend to needed infrastructure upgrades that will cost billions of dollars. Yes, this will be largest set of public works projects ever, across the state’s municipalities and yes, rate payers will be responsible for a good chunk of the investment in the solutions that are selected, to solve the problems that these issues represent.

So . . . 3 things are really important - pay attention, ask questions, get educated. It’s the same 3 things we all find generally useful of course, however, because this topic has been ESPECIALLY complex, even for those of us tracking the details for years, these 3 things are REALLY important right now, as THERE ARE ONLY 5 MONTHS LEFT before these plans get turned in to the state, and THEREAFTER THE PUBLIC WILL NOT HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO WEIGH IN.

So . . . this forum in Elizabeth is bringing together a group of top notch leaders from around the state to speak to those who attend about how these plans are being implemented over the next 30 years and what we need to consider when we lean in to ask ARE THESE CSO SOLUTIONS CLIMATE-READY ?

For Speaker Line-up and More Details From Sewage Free NJ - SewageFree.org/Events or you can contact Mo Kinberg directly if you have a questions (mkinberg@njfuture.org)

The Event Is FREE But REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED, CLICK HERE

Opportunity For More Green Infrastucture In Jersey City - Public Meeting Web Nite Jan 15th

Join SJC and group of other community stakeholders, including city staff, all working together to help shape a Long Term Control Plan that will help Jersey City navigate stormwater flooding issues, CSO’s and climate change impacts to the city, now and in the future. Please participate in the discussion and become educated about various solutions being considered and decisions that must be made by June .

While more Green Infrastructure is on the table as one of the alternatives, as are a combination of Grey Infrastructure solutions, the Mayor and the JC Municipal Utilities Authority (JC MUA) need to hear feedback from the public.as to which costs and which benefits matter most to you, and which quality of life advantages we should be considering when making these decisions - environmental, social and economic.

If your schedule permits, engaging in these START meetings will bring your ideas together with ours - we all need to row together to bring good solutions forward and START is one of working groups in JC where that is happening. Meetings are not always in the evening but this one is so for folks that have day jobs this is hopefully more convenient for you !