Who’da thought? INTERNATIONAL / EUROPE   |  Motivated by a Tax, Irish Spurn Plastic Bags By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL The Irish have embraced the use of cloth bags to carry groceries, encouraged by a 33-cent tax on plastic ones. Maybe we need such a tax in Oregon. I was stunned by another story about the garbage dump in the Pacific that now reaches from Hawaii almost to Japan. It’s in an area that does not have much current so it just sits there, a big ugly in the ocean that consists largely of plastic in one form or another. Shopping at several grocery stores here, I have noticed that plastic is now banned in New Seasons (although there are still bags in produce) and Whole Foods, Fred Meyers is not far behind.  We got “points” with the checkout folks when we pulled out our cloth bags. And while we are at it, why do we have to have bottled water? That is another huge contribution to the Pacific dump. All that stuff we are throwing away has to go somewhere and plastic just moves to another part of the world.  Those bags can be recycled; collect them and take them to a recycle bin near you.

Not quite, we are actually 4th in the nation of total completed LEED certified projects, according to Metropolis Magazine. However that is nothing to be ashamed of, according to the article Oregon has 66 projects, behind Washington (73), Pennsylvania (81) and California (173) - there is a good visual aid in the article “Red, Blue and Green States” - however you have to be a subscriber to view it online.

November’s issue has a great article about the state of LEED certification in America called “Can LEED Survive the Carbon Neutral Era?” which addresses the challenges that the LEED certification is facing and how LEED standards are evolving. The article even highlights landmark LEED buildings in the USA - including the South Waterfront’s very own OHSU Center for Health and Healing - click on the image to the right of the article. Between those two articles and the article “Beyond the Spectacle,” which describes Dubai’s development plans, of which most will be certified by the UAE’s LEED system, it seems to me that sustainable development is becoming the standard rather than a luxury. If that is the case it still baffles me as to why the Homebuilders Association of Metropolitan Portland has a problem with Portland’s carbon tax initiative (see Oregonian article here). Seems to me that if they are already building green as many developers claim to be they should be excited about the potential tax rebates they could qualify for.

The price of oil is at an all time high. The nation’s landfills are inundated with plastic. All this while our municipal water systems are receiving high praise. So, why are we still producing and drinking bottled water?

In a recent article published by Kevin Maney in the Conde Nast Portfolio, a discussion regarding the effects of bottled water is introduced. Since water bottles consist of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), aka oil, it is estimated that 17.6 billion barrels of oil are used in their manufacturing. That roughly projects out to the use of enough fuel to power one million vehicles annually.

The EPA monitors municipal water systems and grades them accordingly. Most places in the United States succeed in producing water that is safe and some even add fluoride. The two largest producers of bottled water, Aquafina and Dasani actual do nothing spectacular in the creation of their water. Aquafina’s water comes from filtered municipal taps while Dasani’s water comes from a plant in Canada that also produces cars and paint.

As far as municipal systems go, Portland was recently rated as having the second best drinking water in the nation. The EPA was quoted as saying that the water is so pure coming from the taps that filtration was not needed. Several other cities across the United States can claim almost the same thing which leads us again to question why we are wasting the precious oil on bottling water. Let’s not just hold water responsible. Bottled sodas and juices are also at fault. Imagine how much oil could be saved to heat our homes and power our vehicles if fluids were not plasticized.

We all know that Green Buildings save energy, but why does this matter besides saving money? I think that we need to look at a deeper level to truly measure the worth of those savings. By saving energy we leave alone those sources that would be used to make that energy, whether that is fossil fuel (Coal, Oil, Natural Gas, Etc.) or water (Hydropower). By not digging or drilling for more fossil fuels we save the land they lay under and so preserve the natural world that plants and animals live in. We also provide untouched areas for ecological functions that the world needs to function correctly, such as Rain Forests, Wetlands, etc. By not burning those fossil fuels we also save the air quality that all living things need and also do not create additional heat trapping greenhouse gases which could lead to global warming.

The dams that make Hydropower impede fish runs and the reservoirs behind dams warm the water above natural temperature or in some cases release deep reservoir cold water into a normally warmer river. Both these situations harm native river ecosystems. So by reducing the need for more energy we reduce the need for dams built to supply power. Since some dams across the country are reaching the end of their physical life the opportunity to remove them becomes an option. These are serious issues that not only affect the human population of the world but also affect the rest of the world’s wildlife. Without a wide diversity of life on the planet we will have a very lonely planet.

   One of the Green aspects of the South Waterfront neighborhood is the multiple modes of transportation. The hierarchy of transportation in cities and towns should be based on what choices makes sense to use for each  trip; walk, bicycle,public transit or private auto, in that order. South Waterfront’s sidewalks and Waterfront Green-way make it easy to  walk safely; and by using 200 x 200 foot sized blocks, such as used in Portland downtown core, walking is more  direct and human scaled. The numerous retail and building entrance awnings in the district protect pedestrians  from the rain, making a quick dash from a lobby entrance to local retail possible. Awnings also provide rain protection and provide shade on longer walks.The streets with limited vehicle access, such as SW Pennoyer and SW Lane will provide direct pedestrian and bicycle access from the interior of the district to the River. Southwest Bond and Moody Avenues provide north and south bound designated bicycle lanes thru the district. The  proposed Master Plan for the Willamette Green-way in the district designates separate pedestrian and bicycle paths to better provide for safer and faster bicycle commutes. Numerous bicycle racks spread throughout the district also promotes bicycle use. A direct connection to the West will be the future Gibbs Street pedestrian/bicycle bridge over SW Macadam Avenue and Interstate 5 . This bridge will allow easy access for the neighborhoods west of the freeway to connect with the River Green-way and District Park as well as the Retail businesses. It will also enable South Waterfront residents to have easy access to the Retail and Parks to the west. Long term plans will be to connect OHSU by this bridge, neighborhood sidewalks and a trail to South Waterfront.The Gibbs Street bridge will also make a direct connection for  Tram and Streetcar commuters who live in the Lair Hill neighborhood.

   Next on the hierarchy of transportation is public transit, of which South Waterfront is unparalleled in the US, with the exception of New York City, because of the Portland Ariel Tram. The  Tram makes for a easy connection between one of Portland’s largest employer, OHSU, and the Portland Streetcar. The Tram also allows for OHSU to expand on the land they own in South Waterfront such as they have done with the Center for Health and Healing at the base of the Tram. Also by having the base of  the Tram surrounded by the high density residences in the South Waterfront neighborhood will make for an easy commute for OHSU employees or patients who live there without any other transportation link. The Streetcar loop through the district makes it easy to exit a full streetcar on the southbound trip and do pickup on the northbound trip. The Streetcar also connects South Waterfront in a linear route through the heart of Portland; River-place, Portland State University, MAX Light Rail and multiple Bus routes, Downtown, the Pearl District and Northwest Portland. Bus routes on SW Macadam Avenue provide addition links out of the district. Automobile use in South Waterfront is also easier because of the grid style street-scape just as it is friendly to pedestrian and bicycle use. Flex cars are also parked in the district for those who do not own or those people who need a 2nd car occasionally. 

 Energy Savings in kWh

By our calculations, the average American home uses 10,968 kWh of energy annually. This figure averages data from several sources that provide information about average annual home energy consumption. Instead of using just one figure, we created an average from figures provided by a number of sources. These sources include the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, the US Department of Energy and Underwriters Laboratories By comparing the projected annual energy usage for South Waterfront residences with the average annual household consumption of energy, we calculated the anticipated annual energy savings for South Waterfront. Natural gas use was included in the calculations. Therms - the units of measurement for heat - were converted to kWh to obtain a standard unit of measurement across all of our energy calculations. 29 Therms is equivalent to one kWh.

Energy Savings in Dollars

To get the energy savings in dollars, the energy savings in kWh was multiplied by 7 cents per kWh, which is the cost per kWh of electricity in Oregon and Washington according to the Department of Energy’s Information Administration Website.