Green news

[MarkDaMan]

Friday, March 20, 2009
Miles Fiberglass chases the wind
Manufacturer eyes market for wind turbines
Portland Business Journal - by Erik Siemers Business Journal staff writer

Miles Fiberglass & Composites Inc. projects double-digit growth this year. And it’s not because the company plans to make more fenders.

The Happy Valley-based fiberglass manufacturer makes everything from RV bumpers to motorized surfboards. But company officials say their biggest growth opportunity is in a somewhat new industry.

About 35 percent of the company’s revenue last year — estimated to be between $10 million and $15 million — came from servicing wind turbine blades. The growth in that business alone could bump revenue by 50 percent this year. Its workforce of 70 — which includes 30 wind turbine technicians that work in the field repairing blades — could also double.

But perhaps more importantly, company officials have submitted bids to four European companies to make turbine housings, or nacelles. Each European company wants to find a U.S.-based manufacturer in order to tap into the fast-growing North American wind power market.

Stephen B. Garner, the company’s head of business development for wind power, said Miles has already lost one of the bids, but it only takes one to push the company forward.

It’s unknown when the company will the other contracts will be awarded.

“I’d like to think it’s just a matter of time,” said President Lori Miles-Luchak.

Even if the company doesn’t land one of the three remaining contracts, it will likely have other chances.

“It’s such a new market,” said Craig Hinkle, the company’s chief operating officer. “New opportunities arise just about daily.”

Miles has no experience making nacelles — the gigantic oblong compartments that sit atop wind towers and house a turbine’s mechanical components.

But the company believes it has the talent and, just as important, the space to handle large-scale manufacturing. The company has 80,000 square feet of manufacturing space split between locations in Happy Valley and Oregon City.

And they’re tapping into the market at the right time.

“I think every wind turbine manufacturer that’s in the U.S. market, if they don’t have a manufacturer here in North America, they’re looking at it,” said Steve Dayney, CEO of Portland-based REpower USA Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of German wind turbine manufacturer REpower Systems AG.

REpower’s products are still manufactured mostly in Europe, with some operations in China. The company has yet to pursue U.S. manufacturing.

But for many companies, “it just makes sense. Our market is so big and it’s predicted to get even bigger,” he said.

The shift to focusing on wind products comes as other composites-heavy industries struggle.

At Miles, production is down 40 percent because of Monaco Coach Corp., the Coburg-based RV maker that was once one of Miles’ biggest customers. Monaco filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this month and laid off the majority of its employees.

The industry has shifted its focus to growth areas such as renewable energy, mass transit and corrosion resistant products such as those used in waste water treatment.

Wind energy “is one of the few shining lights within the composites industry in terms of providing production,” said John Busel, director of a composites growth initiative at the American Composites Manufacturers Association.

In mass alone, nacelle production is a big deal to the composites industry.

“That nacelle is huge,” Busel said. “It’s like taking a Monaco Coach and putting it on top of a pole. It’s a huge box.”

Much like the rest of the industry, Miles is also focused on jobs in wastewater treatment and in mass transit. It’s already providing composite materials used in Clackamas-based Oregon Iron Works’ streetcar prototype.

That work should increase.

Oregon Iron Works has been chosen to produce seven additional streetcars for Portland Streetcar Inc.’s expansion to the eastside, a project that last week received an additional $45 million from a federal spending bill. Oregon Iron Works is also a finalist for a job in Tucson, Ariz., that would yield up to seven more streetcars.

Miles is also working with Siemens Transportation Systems Inc. on composite components for light rail projects in St. Louis, Puerto Rico and Calgary.

esiemers@bizjournals.com | 503-219-3418
http://portland.bizjournals.com/port...ml?t=printable

[MarkDaMan]

PDC releases sustainability report
Portland Development Commission looks at past work from green perspective
Daily Journal of Commerce
POSTED: 04:00 AM PDT Tuesday, March 24, 2009
BY TYLER GRAF

The Portland Development Commission, in its first Sustainable Development Report, makes it clear that the city is among the greenest in the country. But to maintain that reputation, the PDC says more oversight of the city’s overall development is needed.

The commission spent a year drafting the report, which resulted from the city’s directive that bureaus report on their sustainability efforts and accomplishments.

Cindy Bethell, the PDC’s sustainability manager, became her bureau’s primary report author and researcher. She said the report’s goal is to be a “teaching tool” for developers and the city, and to inventory the commission’s past sustainability efforts. The report will be presented at Wednesday’s meeting of the PDC’s board of commissioners.

The report is also intended to help guide future development throughout the city. “From my perspective, (the report) will be a good branding tool for the PDC,” Bethell said.

The report covers the PDC’s activity through the 2007-2008 fiscal year and reports on the commission’s 2007 Sustainability Plan.

According to the report, nine of the PDC’s 14 completed development projects either met or surpassed the commission’s green building policy. Bethell pointed to the White Stag Block and The Watershed at Hillsdale as projects that encapsulated the commission’s goals.

For example, the latter development – a mixed-use affordable housing complex – was built on a reclaimed brownfield site. The building’s development team, Community Partners for Affordable Housing, won the Environmental Protection Agency’s Cleanup Grant for the project.

It was the first nonprofit to do so.

“They helped advance affordable housing a lot,” Bethell said of the team members.

The report also emphasized that “sustainability” was not solely about environmental protection, but also about protecting business interests. For example, one of the PDC’s future goals is to promote sustainable economic development.

Carley Riter, government liaison for the Portland Business Alliance, questioned whether sustainability reports were necessary to progress environmentally sound business practices, saying the market was already directing developers to move in that direction.

But she said she thought the report was a good idea, especially as the PDC moves through its restructuring process.

The PDC earlier this month finished its internal restructuring. As part of the restructuring, the newly instituted Bureau of Housing will now take over the PDC’s housing duties and the commission will more strongly emphasize “economic development” within the city, according to the commission.

“Sustainability is about balancing the environment with business interests,” Riter said.

Although Bethell said she hoped the report would be used as a reference tool by both developers and Portland bureaus, she does not plan on writing one yearly. Likely, the PDC will issue a sustainability report every three years.

“We want to show that we can meet the city’s sustainability goals,” Bethell said, “and go beyond them.

http://www.djcoregon.com/articleDeta...from-green-per

[RoseCtyRoks]

I thought it was interesting to see an article about Portland's Heathman Hotel, in the WABC-TV website's green living section (New York City)

Great to see how 80+ year old buildings are gradually taking the steps to keep these historical buildings around another 80+ years, hopefully, and helping our planet!

http://www.greenrightnow.com/wabc/20...ot-renovation/

[MarkDaMan]

Friday, April 3, 2009
Largest commercial wave project eyes stimulus cash
Portland Business Journal - by Erik Siemers Business Journal staff writer

A project that would give Oregon the nation’s largest commercial wave energy development is eyeing federal stimulus money to push it forward.

Ocean Power Technologies, a publicly held wave energy development firm based in Pennington, N.J., hopes to place an array of 10 buoys off the coast in Reedsport to generate 1.5 megawatts of electric capacity.

Ocean Power will look to bid for federal stimulus money from two angles.

The first is from the $42 million allocated to Oregon for the State Energy Program, which, in part, helps fund renewable energy projects.

The other is from the U.S. Department of Energy, which has about $2.5 billion in federal stimulus money for renewable energy research at its disposal.

The total costs of the project are unclear, but Ocean Power’s pitch for stimulus money indicates an investment of “tens of millions” to be spent in Oregon.

That includes contracting with Oregon companies for installation and fabrication of the buoys. Companies like Clackamas-based Oregon Iron Works, for example, are among the bidders hoping to manufacture the buoys.

“What we see here is an opportunity to create jobs in Oregon,” said Herbert Nock, Ocean Power’s vice president of business development and marketing. “Whatever Oregon stimulus money went to the project would go directly to Oregon jobs.”

The wave energy array would take two to three years to develop. While it would be a source of clean energy, the development is ostensibly a research project for Oregon’s nascent wave energy industry.

The Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center, a federally funded research facility in Newport, hopes to use data from Ocean Power’s project to further its research.

“The national center is about evaluation,” said Robert Paasch, an associate mechanical engineering professor at Oregon State University and interim director of the center. “In order to have evaluation we’ve got to have devices in the water.”

The Newport research center, however, won’t likely be receiving federal stimulus money. Paasch said the center will get a boost in other ways.

The research budget of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy section was boosted from $10 million to $40 million for fiscal 2009. Of that, $30 million is for marine renewable energy research, Paasch said.

The Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center, Paasch said, stands a strong chance of securing increased research money, helping to accelerate its work testing renewable energy devices through its test berth.

Ocean Power Technologies, meanwhile, has its eyes on the next project — a potential 100 megawatt wave energy array at Coos Bay. Nock said the company is in preliminary discussions with state and local officials about the development.

“Now you’re talking about some serious power,” he said.

esiemers@bizjournals.com | 503-219-3418
http://portland.bizjournals.com/port...ml?t=printable

[MarkDaMan]

Friday, March 12, 2010, 2:20pm PST
Portland ranked greenest U.S. city
Portland Business Journal

The Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton metro area ranked No. 1 among 43 U.S. metro areas in a report on America’s “green cities.”

The “Green Cities Index” ranks metro areas on a variety of environmental factors, including traffic congestion, transit use, water quality, carbon emissions, LEED-certified projects and number of “green” jobs.

The index was compiled by the Business Courier of Cincinnati, which is owned by American City Business Journals, the parent company of the Portland Business Journal.

The index draws on data from a variety of government and research agencies.

For the index, the paper evaluated the 40 markets in which American City Business Journals publishes newspapers, plus Los Angeles, where the company operates a business-news Web site, and Indianapolis and Cleveland.

The index looked at such variables as commuting habits of residents, travel time and fuel use, and air and water quality.

Second on the Green Cities list was the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif., area. Honolulu ranked third. Austin, Texas, and Boston rounded out the top five.

The Portland region received high rankings for having the second most LEED-certified building projects in the country and for having minimal sprawl — Portland ranked fourth in the sprawl index behind San Francisco, Boston and Honolulu.

Portland’s poorest showing came in the ranking for commute travel time, where it came in 21st. At 19th, Austin was the only metro area in the green top five with a better travel-time ranking.

The city with the No. 1 travel time ranking was Wichita, Kan. Not surprisingly, Witchita ranked No. 43 for use of public transportation. Portland ranked eighth for public transportation use.

A searchable version of the database is available on the Business Courier Web site.

http://portland.bizjournals.com/port...ml?t=printable

[MarkDaMan]

Portland refines approach to eco-roof goal
POSTED: Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at 03:47 PM PT
BY: Justin Carinci
Daily Journal of Commerce
Tags: Amy Chomowicz, eco-roof, Grey to Green Initiative

Planting greenery on 43 barren acres in Portland by 2013 may not sound like such an ambitious goal - except that the acres are on rooftops.

Portland officials have a long way to go toward that goal. Since the city’s Grey to Green storm-water management program started in 2008, 66 projects have resulted in 4.7 acres of new eco-roofs, said Amy Chomowicz, eco-roof program administrator for the Bureau of Environmental Services.

Despite a $5-per-square-foot incentive the bureau offers building owners, reaching the 43-acre goal remains a challenge. But Chomowicz had an idea that is now being implemented.

Instead of paying the incentive directly to building owners, the city will hire a contracting team to find buildings suitable for eco-roofs, convince the building owners to allow them, and then design and build the roof systems. For $150,000, the contract will guarantee 30,000 square feet of eco-roofs.

That still amounts to $5 per square foot. An additional $10,000 will go toward developing and marketing the program, for a total contract of $160,000.

Proposals are due to the city by May 28.

“How the contractor chooses to use the $5 per square foot is up to them,” Chomowicz said. “We’d expect that they could go to the building owner and talk to them about doing an eco-roof and say, ‘the cost is $15 per square foot and we get $5 from the city; we’ll charge you $10 per square foot.’ ”

Projects under the contract need to be ones for which an eco-roof wasn’t already planned, Chomowicz said. For those, building owners will still be able to claim the existing credit, which is paid out twice per year.

Even with incentives, eco-roofs remain a tough sell, building owners say. Jeffrey Weitz, president of North Rim Partners, said he’s looked into eco-roofs for several projects, but they never made sense.

Existing buildings may also require reinforcement to withstand the weight of an eco-roof, Weitz said. “Once that’s done, you have to put in a brand new roofing system.

“You tear off the roof, put on a membrane system and put panels in to support it,” he said. Other costs include cleanup of debris, and replacement and tending of plants over the roof’s life.

Especially in a weak economy, owners need to weigh the benefit of adding eco-roofs against the cost, said Susan Steward, executive director of the Portland Metropolitan Building Owners and Managers Association.

Unless it’s already time to replace a roof, few building owners will consider converting to an eco-roof, Steward. “Why would any owner go through that expense and heartburn so they can disconnect from the sewer line and get a storm-water discount?” she said.

“There has to be a decent return on investment,” Steward said. “It was five years, but now it has to be two years, because of the market right now.”

Building owners want to be responsible environmental stewards, Steward said, but they gravitate toward the projects that pay off quicker. She pointed out one owner who installed water-efficient toilets, a step that paid for itself in six months.

“He got his money back and he’s saving a lot of money every month,” she said. “That’s the kind of thing people are going to go for.”

Environmental consultants say there is a market for eco-roofs, even in the current economy. Dan Manning, partner in Ecoroofs Everywhere, already does some consulting like the type envisioned in the city contract.

“I look on a map and say, ‘Wow! There’s an old building that needs a new roof,’ and talk to the owners and suggest they do an eco-roof and use the eco-roof grant as a helping tool,” Manning said.

Manning and partner Greg Haines are putting together a team to submit a proposal for the city contract. They’ve already installed 54 eco-roofs.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” Manning said of the new contract. “We’d love the opportunity.”

But it’s merely a preliminary step, Manning said. “It’s not big enough. $160,000 of eco-roofs doesn’t nearly cover what they want to cover.”

Indeed, 30,000 square feet of eco-roofs would draw the city less than an acre closer to its goal. But that’s not the entire picture, Chomowicz said. She hopes the contract will help develop subcontractors’ and consultants’ skills, so they can carry the expertise to other projects.

Macdonald Environmental Planning already has large-scale eco-roof experience, said owner Laurel Macdonald Bonnell. The company plans to submit a proposal as part of a team.

The new contract could be enough to spur people on the eco-roof fence to action, Bonnell said. “We do have building owners that may be interested in putting eco-roofs on buildings but never figured out how, so this might lend the opportunity for private building owners to green their buildings.”

http://djcoregon.com/news/2010/04/20...eco-roof-goal/