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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 14, 2011)
ftje Page 10 3¡3ortlanó (Obstruer D e ce m b e r 14, 2011 ^ o rtla n h ffibseruer Sustainability . : Beaverton grant supports amenities T he U.S. D epartm ent o f H ousing and U rban D evelopm ent has aw ard ed the city o f B eaverton a $ 1 m illion S ustainable C o m m u n ities C hallenge G rant. T he m onies w ill accelerate sustainable developm ent and support the im plem entation o f the B eaverton C reekside D istrict M aster Plan, w hich integrates affordable housing w ith efficient transp ortation, green infrastructure and public am enities. “ P artnerships like these are critical to creating the vibrant d o w ntow n aspired to by B eaverton resid en ts,” said M ayor D enny D oyle. “ W e ’ll now have the capacity to m ove our plans to p ro jects.” T he C ity will use its Sustainable C om m unities C hallenge G rant to im plem ent a num ber o f strategies identified in the C ivic Plan, adopted by C ity C ouncil in A pril 2011. To Place Your Classified Advertisement Contact: Phone: 503-288-0033 Fax: 503-288-0015 e-mail: classifieds@portlandobserver.com One of the Portland area's favorite holiday attractions is even greener this year. The Oregon Zoo's winter ZooLights display features 1.35 million lights, and 900,000 are now energy-efficient LEDs. Holiday Lights go Green with LEDs G erding Theater at the A rm o ry 503.445.3700 128 N W Eleventh Avenue p cs.o rg ZooLights festival offers fudge to recycle old lights If y o u ’ve been thinking o f switching out your old holiday lights for some energy-saving LEDs, the Oregon Zoo has a sweet offer for you: free fudge. Throughout the run o f its w in ter ZooLights festival, the zoo will be collecting old holiday light strings for recycling. Visitors who drop off their lights at the zoo by Sunday, Jan. 1 will receive a cou pon for a free piece of fudge cour tesy of the Zoo Store. All col lected lights will be recycled into their com ponent parts. “LED string lights use a frac tion of the pow er consum ed by tra d itio n a l strin g lig h ts, but th ey ’re ju st as beautiful,” said Chris M assey, zoo facility opera tions m anager. “A nyone who wants to decorate for the holi days can save on electric costs and protect the environm ent by sw itching to LEDs. It’s a win-win situ atio n .” ZooLights visitors who want to take additional steps to conserve natural resources are in luck: V ol unteers are running educational “EcoB ooths” at the zoo’s Family Farm on Saturday and Sunday nights. Kids and adults can par ticipate in fun activities about saving w ater, conserving energy, and “greening” the holidays. All participants will be entered to win a behind-the-scenes tour at the zo o ’s polar bear exhibit. The zoo has been using LEDs (lig h t-em ittin g d io d es) for its ZooLights displays since 2000 and continues to add m ore each year, replacing its conventional bulbs. This year, the zoo added around 100,000 more LEDs, m aking for a total o f 900,000 LEDs out of the 1,350,000 lights. LEDs use only about one percent o f the pow er of standard holiday lights, and about 10 percent o f the power in m ini lights. “D uring the ZooLights season, the zoo now consum es 80 percent less pow er than it did before we s ta rte d sw itc h in g to L E D s ,” M assey said. “T h at’s an incred ible difference.” According to Massey, few visi tors notice the change— LEDs give off a slightly different glow than standard holiday lights, but are just as festive. Additionally, LEDs do not fade and lose their color over time. Since the diodes themselves create the colors, rather than painted bulbs, old LED strings remain as bright and colorful as the day they were purchased. Sewer Overflows Project Completed "Sparkles and glows till« the holiday lights }hts strung across the sat againsta winter shy." sh - Ibi Ortgonion ©X (flrrçonun Tai&Mxn B oyue R ttt H IM M IM I I v a n r U M M M M IK t l t R t M rx i FAUL a A L L IN FAMILY Æ j) © The City of Portland has com pleted its 20-year program to con trol combined sewer overflows to the Willamette River and Columbia Slough. Completing the project reduces the river discharges from an aver age of 50 per year to an average of four each winter and one every third summer during very heavy rain storms. The program reduced an nual combined sewer overflow vol ume to the Columbia Slough by 99 percent and to the Willamette River by 94 percent. P o rtlan d ’s com bined sew ers carry stormwater runoff and sani tary sewage in the same pipes. To day, stream diversion, sewer sepa ration, sump installation and down- spout disconnection projects re move an average of 2.2 billion gal lons of sewage per year from the combined sewer system, officials said. The East Side CSO Big Pipe Project, the largest public works project in Portland history, created a six-mile long, 22-foot diameter tun nel that was activated this fall.
